Rangatahi Youth Transformative Learning and Land Connection
The Learning Environment is a place-based community-led organisation cultivating an integrated model for learning, wellbeing, and regeneration. Based at Pīwaiwaka Farm, a 178-acre regenerating farm-forest meets community hub on the banks of the Whanganui River, in Aotearoa New Zealand. This work exists to nurture a different way of learning and relating that is rooted in place, shaped by community, and responsive to the interconnected challenges of our time. We offer transformational courses, holistic health services, and inspiring edible and native landscapes to enable personal empowerment, collective adaptation and systemic transformation. Together learners, volunteers and community grow trees, restore ecosystems, cultivate food sovereignty, strengthen wellbeing and create hopeful pathways toward a more equitable and regenerative future. The Learning Environment is rich with stories, humming with vitality, and alive with people imagining new ways of thriving together.
Project story
Mission and Values
To empower and inspire a hopeful future for rangatahi [youth] by enabling and facilitating transformative learning experiences that are informed by the people and stories of place, are immersed in nature, nurture holistic wellbeing of each learner and create systemic change for themselves and their communities.
Our learning opportunities are designed and developed in collaboration with kaupapa Māori & community organisations to include preventative mental health, collaboration, bioregional and regenerative land care and growing organic food.
This ‘learning environment’ has been established on a 72ha forest-farm on the ancestral land of Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngā Paerangi and Ngā Rauru. This living-campus consists of built infrastructure including a native plant nursery, organic veggie gardens, orchards, and camping facilities. The infrastructure also enables small social enterprises to exist to fund the wider operations and learning experiences.
Activities for This Project
Education - Removing the barriers to learning for at risk youth by collaborating with community organizations to create hands-on learning opportunities for youth to connect back to the land, community and themselves. We run a wider range of courses from 1-day workshops to 6 month programs.
Regenerative Horticulture - Donating free organic fruit, vegetables and seedlings to support people to reconnect back to our diverse foodscapes from cultivated areas to wild syntropic food forestry.
Native regeneration - Bringing in community to care for the forest-farm we are on from sourcing native seed, growing & caring for trees, planting trees to weed control and pest control.
Infrastructure - Establishing beautiful and practical self-sufficient physical infrastructure on the land that is built to last.
Studying Change
In 2023 we created an evaluation toolkit with support from Malatest International and a grant from Lotteries to more clearly understand our theory of change and how to measure this. Our qualitative measures primarily include capturing stories of positive impact and change through videos, interviews and testimonials. Quantitative measurements include demographics, number and types of course offerings, amount of food distributed and locations, number of trees grown and planted, soil & water quality and financial assets established.
Project updates
Team
Donations (121)
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
Rangatahi Youth Transformative Learning and Land Connection
The Learning Environment is a place-based community-led organisation cultivating an integrated model for learning, wellbeing, and regeneration. Based at Pīwaiwaka Farm, a 178-acre regenerating farm-forest meets community hub on the banks of the Whanganui River, in Aotearoa New Zealand. This work exists to nurture a different way of learning and relating that is rooted in place, shaped by community, and responsive to the interconnected challenges of our time. We offer transformational courses, holistic health services, and inspiring edible and native landscapes to enable personal empowerment, collective adaptation and systemic transformation. Together learners, volunteers and community grow trees, restore ecosystems, cultivate food sovereignty, strengthen wellbeing and create hopeful pathways toward a more equitable and regenerative future. The Learning Environment is rich with stories, humming with vitality, and alive with people imagining new ways of thriving together.
Project story
Mission and Values
To empower and inspire a hopeful future for rangatahi [youth] by enabling and facilitating transformative learning experiences that are informed by the people and stories of place, are immersed in nature, nurture holistic wellbeing of each learner and create systemic change for themselves and their communities.
Our learning opportunities are designed and developed in collaboration with kaupapa Māori & community organisations to include preventative mental health, collaboration, bioregional and regenerative land care and growing organic food.
This ‘learning environment’ has been established on a 72ha forest-farm on the ancestral land of Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngā Paerangi and Ngā Rauru. This living-campus consists of built infrastructure including a native plant nursery, organic veggie gardens, orchards, and camping facilities. The infrastructure also enables small social enterprises to exist to fund the wider operations and learning experiences.
Activities for This Project
Education - Removing the barriers to learning for at risk youth by collaborating with community organizations to create hands-on learning opportunities for youth to connect back to the land, community and themselves. We run a wider range of courses from 1-day workshops to 6 month programs.
Regenerative Horticulture - Donating free organic fruit, vegetables and seedlings to support people to reconnect back to our diverse foodscapes from cultivated areas to wild syntropic food forestry.
Native regeneration - Bringing in community to care for the forest-farm we are on from sourcing native seed, growing & caring for trees, planting trees to weed control and pest control.
Infrastructure - Establishing beautiful and practical self-sufficient physical infrastructure on the land that is built to last.
Studying Change
In 2023 we created an evaluation toolkit with support from Malatest International and a grant from Lotteries to more clearly understand our theory of change and how to measure this. Our qualitative measures primarily include capturing stories of positive impact and change through videos, interviews and testimonials. Quantitative measurements include demographics, number and types of course offerings, amount of food distributed and locations, number of trees grown and planted, soil & water quality and financial assets established.
Project updates
Team
$6,364.41
Total funded by
Activity
Anonymous
$38.99
Anonymous
$4.50
Anonymous
$51.93
Location
New Zealand
Round 2
Oct 23 - Nov 6, 2024
This round provided funding for regenerative land projects and was conducted on Gitcoin.
Matching funds provided by
