Introduction and background

The Ministry of Youth Development (MYD) is responsible for promoting the interests of young people aged between 12 and 24 years. It does this through the provision of advice to government; the facilitation of young people's input into selected government processes; the development and sharing of an evidence base on youth development; and the funding of youth development programmes and services.

In late February 2009, I was employed by MYD to carry out a review relating to a subset of youth development programmes that MYD currently funds through its Services for Young People (SFYP) fund; the NZ Conservation Corps (NZCC) and the Youth Services Corp (YSC). At approximately $8 million per annum, the SFYP fund comprises the bulk of the Ministry’s total annual funding and is a significant component of MYD's activities. Involving a budget of approximately $3.7 million and $1.5 million respectively for the 2009 financial year, in combination, the NZCC and the YSC represent the largest spend within the SFYP fund.

NZ Conservation Corps and Youth Services Corp

The NZCC was established in New Zealand in 1989, modelled largely on a Californian Conservation Corp programme developed in the United States in the late seventies.¹ At the time of implementation, NZCC was linked to the government's Employment and Training Strategy.² The YSC was introduced in 1995, modelled on the NZCC, established out of the Prime Minister's Taskforce on Youth Employment.³ The general aim of both programmes is to "...build the confidence, motivation and self esteem of the young people by involving them in practical educational activity of benefit to themselves and of value to their communities, and improving ongoing movement into further ETE [employment, training or educational] outcomes".⁴

Cabinet guidelines [SDC (05) 19 refers] state that young people aged between 12 and 24 years are eligible to participate in programmes funded through MYD's SFYP fund. For the NZCC and YSC, this has in practice become 16-24 year olds because it is this age group and not the broader (younger) group who are legally able to participate in activities other than school. Young people aged 15 are able to participate if they have been exempted from school via a Section 71 issued by the young person's school.⁵

While initially designed with a broad participant target group, over the past five or so years, both the NZCC and YSC have tended to focus on 'the hard end' of the youth spectrum; young people who have typically experienced a range of adverse childhood events, present with significantly challenging behaviours, and who face multiple psychosocial stressors. A portion of these young people also have a background of criminal offending. This focus was both an intentional policy shift towards investment in the most vulnerable and a reflection of strong economic conditions at the time which resulted in high employment amongst low-risk young people (and consequently minimal availability for participation in youth development programmes).

The basic model for both NZCC and YSC involves an intensive, full-time 20 week course, of between eight and twelve young people per course. For F2009, there are 68 NZCC programmes being delivered in 66 locations around NZ by a total of 28 providers, with an expected 544-816 participants. There are 25 YSC programmes being delivered in 9 locations around NZ by a total of 11 providers, with an expected 200-300 participants.

Traditionally, the core components of the two programmes have been the same:

• work activities of value to the community - 50% (NZCC work activities are conservation/environment-based, while YSC activities are community-based)
• challenging recreation - 25%
• education - 25%
• work experience - 25%
• te Ao Maori - incorporated throughout the programme.⁶

In approximately 2006, these components were removed from the standard service contract. Contracts now require that providers deliver a prescribed set of inputs, have a minimum of 25 contact hours per week with students plus one hour one-on-one with the course instructor per fortnight, and achieve a prescribed set of outcomes.⁷ The choice of activities included within programmes is now left to the discretion of individual providers, whom are expected to select those that will best facilitate achievement of outcomes. MYD contract staff suggest that many programmes still follow a similar format to that used prior to 2006.

The inputs for both programmes are as follows:

• individual needs assessments
• develop, implement and monitor individual plans
• programme curriculum development and delivery to meet the needs of young people
• project and activities in their community
• network and work in partnership with other providers of social services locally, regionally and nationally.⁸

The outcomes for both programmes are also the same. In the current service contracts, they are organised into the following four areas:

• employment, training and education - the young person transitions to education, training or employment on programme completion
• health and wellbeing - the young person demonstrates knowledge of healthier, safer living practices and sustains practices that contribute to their personal wellbeing and future
• personal development - the young person is able to self manage, has an increased sense of self identity, can make positive choices and is more skilled, equipped and personally supported to make transitions
• social development - the young person has increased relationship, communication and team-work skills, is connected more to their family, community and environment, and values contributing positively to people, their community and their environment.

Footnotes

¹ Note to Minister of Employment: Further development of the Conservation Corp concept in New Zealand, Department of Labour, 25 May 1988

² Report to the Minister of Youth Affairs, 5 October 2007, MYD – 2008 contracting round for services for young people. Ministry of Youth Development

³ Report to the Minister of Youth Affairs, 2003, op cit, p7

⁴ Ibid

⁵ The Ministry of Education are currently reviewing school exemption policy which may affect the ability of 15 year olds to participate in youth development programmes as an alternative to school

⁶ The intention was that the te Ao Maori component was embedded within the programme generally so did not represent a separate percentage of effort

⁷ There are other compliance-related deliverables beyond those listed here, for example, around reporting

⁸ See Ministry of Youth Development’s Contract for Services for Young People template