INIHKD 2026 YOuth Forum
In Collaboration with KŌrero O Te 'Ōrau
The INIHKD Youth Forum in partnership with Kōrero o te ‘Ōrau’s is a four-day program that invites young people (ages 12-22) to build a deeper connection with their environment and culture through hands-on learning grounded in Indigenous knowledge. Kōrero o te ‘Ōrau is a local environmental NGO based in the Cook Islands, whose mission is to improve the well-being of the Indigenous people of the Cook Islands and their environments. Kōrero O Te ‘Ōrau translates to ‘Knowledge of the Land, Sea and Sky’.
This program run in collaboration with KO is an extension of their ‘Ātui’anga ki te tango’ youth programs, and translates to connecting to your foundation – your foundation being our culture and natural environments. These are programs that engage both junior and senior students, taking them into our backyards for a hands-on experience. Children explore, learn, feel, and connect with their surroundings and traditional practices, blending modern science with Indigenous knowledge and customs.
Participants will engage directly with the natural world – from the ocean and reef to the land and mountains – while learning from local leaders, artists, and knowledge holders about conservation, traditional practices, and sustainable ways of living. Alongside environmental activities, students will take part in cultural experiences that draw on traditional food preparation, craft, performance, and language to strengthen their sense of identity and belonging. Working in teams throughout the program, participants will be encouraged to collaborate, share ideas, and reflect on how traditional and ecological knowledge can inform the way they care for their communities and surroundings. The program blends structured learning with active, outdoor experiences, offering a balance of guided instruction and open exploration.
PROGRAM DRAFT
Gathering sub-themes
This theme takes a broad approach to health and healing that embraces notions of Indigenous Wellbeing. These include, but are not restricted to: Addressing sexual and gender health, family wellness, and self-care as self-love; mental health, depression, suicide prevention, grief, and trauma healing; maternal health and birth care; epidemic recovery; diabetes, HIV, and drug addiction; Women’s health and well-being; traditional healing practices, culture, language, and family as medicine; ceremony and conflict resolution as medicine; harm-reduction and high-performance athletics as health; Indigenized biomedicine and epidemiology of Indigenous health; biomedical trends and anti-discrimination in care; culturally responsive healthcare representation and Indigenist training for providers; traditional medicine and scientific processes; honoring and prioritizing Indigenous medicines; reclaiming Indigenous healthcare and re-learning traditional health practices; using traditional knowledge to drive innovative solutions in Native communities; and partnerships between biomedicine and traditional health epistemologies.
This theme opens opportunities to share Indigenous knowledge and approaches to exploring well-being through our relationality with land and ecological systems that support our communities. Examples include: land-based healing, and healing the ocean; water and land sovereignty and community safety; traditional knowledges for the land (including Indigenous calendar systems); Indigenous foods and climate change solutions; healing the land through restorative practice; sovereign Indigenous systems for food, capital, and socioeconomic thrivance; re-centering reciprocity and balance with lands, waters, and all living systems.
Indigenous Futures and the lives of future generations will include new and advanced technologies, including Artificial Intelligence. This theme provides the space for engagement with this rapidly growing field. Some examples include: Exploring how Indigenous knowledge and ethics can guide emerging technologies for good; advancing Indigenous data governance and digital sovereignty; protecting traditional knowledge within digital systems; AI and technology for language revitalization, education, and health; Indigenous innovation in digital well-being and cultural continuity; Indigenous futurisms and technology; building partnerships that blend Indigenous science and advanced technologies to serve collective well-being and planetary care.
Language Reclamation | Justice | Creative Practice | LGBTQIATS+ & Indigenist Gender Health | Advancing Health Policy & Sovereignty | Indigenous Governance
This theme takes a broad approach to health and healing that embraces notions of Indigenous Wellbeing. These include, but are not restricted to: Addressing sexual and gender health, family wellness, and self-care as self-love; mental health, depression, suicide prevention, grief, and trauma healing; maternal health and birth care; epidemic recovery; diabetes, HIV, and drug addiction; Women’s health and well-being; Medicines; traditional healing practices, culture, language, and family as medicine; ceremony and conflict resolution as medicine; harm-reduction and high-performance athletics as health; Indigenized biomedicine and epidemiology of Indigenous health; biomedical trends and anti-discrimination in care; culturally responsive healthcare representation and Indigenist training for providers; traditional medicine and scientific processes; honoring and prioritizing Indigenous medicines; reclaiming Indigenous healthcare and re-learning traditional health practices; using traditional knowledge to drive innovative solutions in Native communities; and partnerships between biomedicine and traditional health epistemologies.
This theme opens opportunities to share Indigenous knowledge and approaches to exploring well-being through our relationality with land and ecological systems that support our communities. Examples include: land-based healing, and healing the ocean; water and land sovereignty and community safety; traditional knowledges for the land (including Indigenous calendar systems); Indigenous foods and climate change solutions; healing the land through restorative practice; sovereign Indigenous systems for food, capital, and socioeconomic thrivance; re-centering reciprocity and balance with lands, waters, and all living systems.
Indigenous Futures and the lives of future generations will include new and advanced technologies, including Artificial Intelligence. This theme provides the space for engagement with this rapidly growing field. Some examples include: Exploring how Indigenous knowledge and ethics can guide emerging technologies for good; advancing Indigenous data governance and digital sovereignty; protecting traditional knowledge within digital systems; AI and technology for language revitalization, education, and health; Indigenous innovation in digital well-being and cultural continuity; Indigenous futurisms and technology; building partnerships that blend Indigenous science and advanced technologies to serve collective well-being and planetary care.
Language Reclamation | Justice | Creative Practice | LGBTQIATS+ & Indigenist Gender Health | Advancing Health Policy & Sovereignty | Indigenous Governance
Don't MIss out, register today!
Incubated by the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute, University of Washington
