2008 Presence - A Gathering of Young Changemakers

This was the second of two gatherings of young leaders from around New Zealand. The group was exploring what it meant to be working for positive change at this time. We talked about our individual projects, what we were learning and what we hoped to achieve. We also talked about what we could work on together. 

2008 Enviroschools Planning Retreat

With support from the Enviroschools Foundation we meet in Rotorua for several days of planning and exploring the potential for taking collective action. The group developed ideas for national events, regional workshops and online tools that would eventually find expression through the ReGeneration project.

2009 ReGeneration Design Event

This was our 'design event'. We invited over 50 young leaders from the Enviroschools network to meet in Taupo to create the ReGeneration network. We had workshops that explored the philosophy behind the project, developed our brand, explored what functionality the online presence needed, and what kinds of support people wanted and needed. The we declared ReGeneration launched!

2009 ReGeneration Collective

With the project launched, the social networking site up, and some regional events under our belt, we knew it was time to reconvene and expand the group of young leaders that was driving the project. This was the first of a regular series of smaller get togethers of that what was loosely refered to as the ReGenertion Collective.

2010 ReGen Handbook

We knew that we were onto something good and it felt important to try and capture what it was that we were doing, both as a way to share it with others but also so that we could understand it and get better at it. The first ReGen Handbook was a 70 page A5 document that explained the ReGeneration philosophy as we understood it at that time and also tried to be explicit about how people could get involved and what they might get out of being part of the network. A PDF of the handbook is downloadable in the Resources section of this website. 
 

2010 Summer Jam

We were well underway and it was time to do something big! The first Summer Jam was an amazing experience for 100 young leaders from around New Zealand. We took the ideas that we'd been developing at our regional events and combined them into an exciting new event format.  

2010 Spring Planning Retreat

Building on the success of the previous year's planning retreat we continued to grow the project through the generative power of collective decision making. At this year's event we launched The ReGeneration Trust and developed our plans for the 2011 ReGeneration Road Trip!

2010 The ReGeneration Trust

The ReGeneration Trust was formed in September 2010 to provide leadership and administration support for the ReGeneration project. The trust is the legal vehicle for running all the events, projects, workshops, trainings and other things that ReGeneration did. The trust was vital so that we could apply for funding and employ people to develop and implement new initiatives.

2011 Summer Jam

This was the biggest overnight event we ran. Over 120 young people spending a week developing skills, action plans and connections that will last a lifetime. The focus of this year's event was making final arrangements for the Roadtrip. The venue was once again the stunning Living Springs centre near Governers Bay on Banks Penninsular.

2011 Roadtrip

The Roadtrip was in many ways represents the culmination of the ReGeneration Project. We had a really strong core crew, we had friends and connections around New Zealand and perhaps most importantly we wanted to know what was happening outside the main centres. Finally we wanted to share our ideas with other like minded people and connect with people who had not been able to travel to our national events. 10 people, 2 vans, 15 weeks, 1000's of kms. You can read all about by clicking on the map on the left of this page.

2011 Roadtrip Interviews

A major part of the Roadtrip was getting to meet amazing changemakers from around New Zealand. It was a real priviledge to be able to film many of these people and to have people on the Roadtrip who with the skills to produce over 50 amazing profiles that are now available free online.

2012 Young Changemaker of the Year

At our last Summer Jam we took the opportunity to recognise a young man who has really impressed us since we met him during the Making Change film project. Ben Dowdle was the recipient of our very first (and only) 'Young Changemaker of the Year" Award. Thanks Ben - you're awesome!

2012 Changemaker Conventions

2012 was a huge year for us, and one of major highlights were the Changemaker Conventions. These one day events were designed to be an affordable (in both time and money) way for people to access the inspiring culture of the longer ReGeneration events. The Auckland event attracted over 200 people and the Christchurch event over 100.

2013 ReGeneration Completion

Finishing something that you have worked on for years, that you have shared with freinds, and that has helped make you who you are is never easy. The ReGeneration project has involved hundreds of people and has touched the lives of thousands of young people over the last 5 years. When we made the decision to wrap it up we wanted to do it well and to invite everyone who had been involved to meet up and talk about what we had learned, what was great about the project and what wasn't so awesome. Thanks everyone - you're rad!