Mentoring can have a powerful and positive influence on the lives of young people as they grow and transition into adulthood.
As part of the Children’s Action Plan (CAP) released in October 2012, the New Zealand Government announced a set of actions to fundamentally change and improve the way we identify, support and protect vulnerable children and young people.
This included the promotion of youth mentoring and in 2013 the Ministry of Health, Children’s Action Plan, New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network (NZYMN) and the Ministry of Youth Development partnered together to develop Safe Practice Guidelines for Youth Mentoring Programmes.
In June 2016, the New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network (NZYMN) launched the second edition of the Guide to Effective and Safe Practice in Youth Mentoring, Aotearoa New Zealand. The 2013 Safe Practice Guidelines have now been integrated in to this, creating a single Guide for New Zealand that seamlessly promotes safe and effective practice.
The Guide is a useful resource for anyone supporting youth development including: mentoring, and youth development programme providers, social service agencies that deliver mentoring services, school based mentoring programmes and funders.