News - Urge/Whakamanawa – a web site for and by

Urge/Whakamanawa – a web site for and by youth

August 2002

The Alcohol Advisory Council (ALAC) has led the way in the development of an award winning youth friendly web site. The site supports young people around issues of sex, drugs, alcohol, relationships, and importantly, it celebrates the achievement of young people.

The site is the result of a highly successful collaboration across government and non-government agencies. Young people were involved in the site’s development from its very beginning and continue to be active participants in its on-going development.

“The corporate sector has also been supportive of the site by offering free web hosting and other sponsorship deals”, says ALAC’s information services manager, Suzanne Jones.

“The key to its success was working together to achieve mutual goals. The collaborative nature of the project has enabled a number of organisations to deliver on key government strategies for youth by combining our efforts,” says Suzanne.

In recognition of this the site won both a TUANZ and Netguide awards at the end of last year. The site can be found at www.urge.co.nz or www.whakamanawa.co.nz.