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Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa > The principles
The vision and the six principles
The Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa (YDSA) consists of a vision, principles, aims and goals, and also suggests actions that can be taken to support the positive development of young people.
 The vision
A country where young people are vibrant and optimistic through being supported and encouraged to take up challenges.
The principles
The principles of youth development outline what the youth development
approach is all about. They can be used as a checklist and a tool for
developing youth policies and programmes and in working alongside young people.
The principles are as follows:
1. YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IS SHAPED BY THE ‘BIG PICTURE’
By the ‘big picture’ we mean: the values and belief systems; the social,
cultural, economic contexts and trends; the Treaty of Waitangi and
international obligations such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child.
2. YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IS ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE BEING CONNECTED
Healthy development depends on young people having positive connections with
others in society. This includes their family and whânau, their community,
their school, training institution or workplace and their peers.
3. YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IS BASED ON CONSISTENT STRENGTHS-BASED APPROACH
There are risk factors that can affect the healthy development of young people
and there are also factors that are protective. ‘Strengths-based’ policies and
programmes will build on young people’s capacity to resist risk factors and
enhance the protective factors in their lives.
4. YOUTH DEVELOPMENT HAPPENS THROUGH QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS
It is important that everyone is supported and equipped to have successful,
quality relationships with young people.
5. YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IS TRIGGERED WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE FULLY PARTICIPATE
Young people need to be given opportunities to have greater control over what
happens to them, through seeking their advice, participation and engagement.
6. YOUTH DEVELOPMENT NEEDS GOOD INFORMATION
Effective research, evaluation, and information gathering and sharing is
crucial.
Together, these six principles can help young people to gain a:
- sense of contributing something of value to society
- feeling of connectedness to others and to society
- belief that they have choices about their future
- feeling of being positive and comfortable with their own identity.
The aims
AIM 1 All young people should have opportunities to establish positive connections within their key social environments.
AIM 2 Government policy and practice reflect a positive youth development approach.
AIM 3 All young people will have access to a range of youth development opportunities.
The goals
STRENGTHS-BASED APPROACH
Goal 1 – Ensuring a consistent strengths-based youth development approach.
QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS
Goal 2 – Developing skilled people to work with young people.
YOUTH PARTICIPATION
Goal 3 – Creating opportunities for young people to actively participate and engage.
AN INFORMED APPROACH
Goal 4 – Building knowledge about youth development through information and research.
YDSA flyer - the vision and principles
An A4 flyer is available summarising the principles of the YDSA. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to download this file.
For a print copy, please send your details to: mydinfo@myd.govt.nz
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