During my fourth week at the Arctic Mayors’ Forum I did a lot of outreach work. We were beginning to launch the applications for the Arctic Policy Hackathon, so I was working to make sure that we reached out to a diverse group of people from across the Arctic to ensure that there is equal access to the application.
This is especially important in the Arctic because there are so many communities, especially Indigenous communities, where people do not get these opportunities. Living in the North makes it really expensive to travel, and a lot of the communities are fairly isolated, so many young people do not get the opportunity to leave their communities and interact with other youth that often. Having said that, there is a definite group of people who are aware of these ‘Arctic opportunities’ and have had numerous opportunities, so it was really important to us that we get advertising for this event out to a wider range of people, including those without much experience.
In week 4 I also spent a lot of time working on a long term media plan for AMF. As a small organization, things like social media and traditional media are often put on the back burner. Because I was there to help, I started working on making a plan for how we would grow our social media reach and content. This is really important, especially in the Arctic, because we are an international organization made up of cities and small communities that are very far apart from one another. To ensure that our membership and the broader public know what we are doing, it is really important that we regularly share the updates.
I also wrote an appeal to a funding rejection, which was kind of cool. I feel like this contributed to me developing some ‘hard skills’ which was cool to see. Really understanding the mechanics of NGOs, and how they seek funding was super eye-opening, and it was cool to write a diplomatic, yet strongly worded email about why the funders made the wrong decision.
I also went on a beautiful hike this week to a spot called Keipen. It is part of a Norwegian hiking guide, and the views were crazy.
My name is Alice (she/her) and I have just finished my first year at the University of Toronto studying Cognitive Science, and Philosophy as a National Scholar. I am from a small province called Newfoundland and Labrador, but studied for two years at Pearson College UWC in Victoria, British Columbia. I am really passionate about mental illness - specifically about how our conception of mental illness shapes the way we treat people with mental illness in medical institutions, and in society. I am also very invested in the climate justice movement.
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