Kawerau Youth Council

Background
In June 2008 the Kawerau District Council established the Kawerau Youth Council to represent the views of the young people in the community and provide an opportunity for these views to be heard and included in decision making.

Aim
The Kawerau Youth Council is designed to encourage youth participation in civic affairs and provide a voice and direction on youth issues to the Kawerau District Council, community groups and organisations. The Youth Council comprises of young people aged between 8 and 24.

The Youth Council will advocate for and support youth events, activities and facility provisions within the District.

Kawerau Youth Council Vision Statement

Kawerau is where young people are optimistic, supported and encouraged to take up challenges to contribute to a growing, vibrant community

The Kawerau Youth Council has also developed a motto of "Gaining more MANA". The KYC focuses on the achievers of Kawerau and provide high quality initiatives which stimulate pride, leadership, self achievement, motivation and a feeling of gaining more Mana.

The Kawerau Youth Council Outcomes;

To target the achievers of Kawerau and enhance their leadership skills
To establish and run high quality events/activities and functions for the youth of Kawerau
To build a community with strong confident youth leaders
Creating self confident youth leaders who will then mentor successive generations

STRATEGIC OUTCOMES
Many youth leave Kawerau soon after leaving school, it is important to provide as many opportunities as possible to assist our youth and be prepared for the challenges that they will experience in a different environment.

Using KDC's Youth Policy 2007 and the Youth Council's Vision Statement as strategic guidelines, all youth initiatives will be measured against the ability of the programmes to...........

Deliver a broad range of activities which are relevant to the needs of our youth and have the ability to reach as many as possible.
Include and encourage intergenerational relationships
Promote the ability of youth to become leaders within our community
Celebrate the participation and achievement of our youth
Develop skills, knowledge and experience
Gain confidence to purse education, training and employment

With the support of KDC, the KYC has developed relationships with different community agencies and a strong bond has been formed with the Community. Given the success of the KYC activities and the relationship formed, the KDC has retained the Youth Co-ordinator and brought back in house the KDC Holiday Programme and KDC Young Achiever Awards.

2011 / 2012 KAWERAU YOUTH COUNCIL