Upsouth

Auckand City,New Zealand

Background &Urban Challenges

South Auckland's favorable geographic location, strong Māori heritage, and creative potential make the area unlike any other in New Zealand. However, it's also an area which faces complex social and economic challenges:

• High unemployment and underemployment
• Low educational attainment
• Low incomes
• Social harms caused by hardship and poverty

More than 270,000 people - almost 20 percent of all Aucklanders - live in South Auckland. Nearly 40 percent of residents are under 25 years of age, making South Auckland home to 23 percent of all Auckland's children and young people. Furthermore, South Auckland is part of the most dynamic centre of economic activity in New Zealand. However, as Auckland grows, so too does the risk of regional (and national) failure.

Objectives

South Auckland's economic importance, abundance of talent, and large youthful population are strengths waiting to be unlocked. For these reasons, social, economic, and physical regeneration in South Auckland is a strategic priority for Auckland Council.

The Southern Initiative (TSI) sits within Auckland Council and its role is to stimulate social and community innovation in South Auckland. It tackles complex socio-economic challenges and creates opportunities that will benefit its people. It has three areas of priority with a particular focus on social innovation and entrepreneurship:

• Shared prosperity
• Resilience
• Thriving children and whānau (family).

Its core functions include:

1. Raising incomes through quality employment opportunities and establishing businesses that create shared prosperity;
2. Implementing environmental, technological, economic and demographic changes to build long-term resilience and adaptability;
3. Supporting whānau (family), especially those with very young children, to develop their own lifelong solutions for success. 

Solution Descriptions 

Upsouth is a youth empowerment and civic engagement digital platform operating in South Auckland. It is one of a number of initiatives and programmes delivered by The Southern Initiative. Through Upsouth, diverse agencies may receive young people's feedback and ideas on a range of social, environmental, business and civic challenges. Furthermore, Upsouth users earn micropayments for their contributions from sponsors. Members have the option to share the money they've earned with other Upsouth members, whose contributions they support.

This method engages a community of young people who don't often participate in traditional forms of participation such as surveys and public meetings. Ideas can be submitted via video, poem, image, drawing, text or any other format. The value of micropayments depend on the originality, insight, creativity and critical thinking of responses. These requests have injected thousands of dollars into the South Auckland economy, enabling young people to earn money while using 21st century skills to contribute to their community.

Beyond workforce skills and extra income, Upsouth empowers young people to be civically engaged in their communities. This platform enables young people to get in touch with their cultural identities and think critically about relevant issues. Furthermore, allowing users to share their rewards strengthens community ties.

In short, Upsouth builds civic innovation and a common entrepreneurial spirit.

The Upsouth program has achieved substantial success in achieving its objectives. The innovative community engagement model which advances youth participation (especially young Māori and Pasifika) in public meetings and local businesses. This model allows young people to invest into their own small businesses. According to user feedback, Upsouth was considered a safe space for self-expression, idea exchange and earned income. The platform has gained active support and promotion from South Auckland schools.

In its first eighteen months of operation, more than 2,700 young Māori and Pasifika people, mostly aged 15-24, signed up to give feedback and respond to sponsored questions. Thirty eight callups have been made on the platform to date by council departments, local boards, corporations and community organisations. Furthermore, Upsouth has partnered with sponsors including philanthropic groups, private sector members including Z Energy, and other agencies. Upsouth partnered with itsnoon, a Brazilian software company, which developed its human empowerment software. Itsnoon's experience, with 400 similar deployments globally, was the foundation to a close working relationship and overcoming the initial learning curve at launch. The TSI team's collective skill and connections were also instrumental to developing grassroots partnerships.

Case Studies

The following two case studies highlight benefits and results of the platforms so far:

• Case study 1: 18-year old Neihana Lowe from Papakura set up his own photography and videography business after receiving an Upsouth payment for his contribution. He used the money to buy equipment and is now working with several clients in South Auckland. In a short amount of time, he was named the Māoriland Film Festival Filmmaker of the Year and held his own exhibition in conjunction with his kuia (Tūhoe) called Whēnua I at the Papakura Art Gallery.
  

• Case study 2: Janet Akai became increasingly more confident in her creative and photographic skills through Upsouth. With the money she made from her contributions, she bought professional camera gear and is now the communications manager at the Cook Island Development Agency (CIDANZ). Janet was responsible for designing the impressive photography for the national campaign used to profile 2017's Cook Island Language Week. 
  

Results & Reflections

Challenges and conflict are inevitable during the initial stages of operation. The key difficulties encountered were the following:

• Identifying the most effective human empowerment technology
• Expanding the user base
• Developing a sustainable sponsorship pipeline
• Achieving scale

At the same time, Upsouth is working on increasing collaborations with schools and workshops. Word-of-mouth marketing from students has been successful in engaging larger communities, which ultimately play an instrumental role in forming partnerships with educational institutions.

Looking ahead, The Ministry of Youth Development and The Ministry for Vulnerable Children (Oranga Tamariki) have both expressed interest in investing in the platform so it can scale nationally and that investment is currently being explored. Additionally, with young people being the most environmentally-conscious generation yet, Upsouth can be an invaluable tool for building a more eco-friendly & sustainable future.

Upsouth will continue working on expanding its user base. Ultimately, the goal is nationwide adoption of this platform so that youth across the country can connect with each other through civic engagement.