Canterbury Youth Workers Collective (CYWC)

Strategic Plan

2017 – 2020

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The Canterbury Youth Workers Collective was established as an Incorporated Society in July 1986 as the Canterbury Youth Workers Training Forum. The name was changed in 1996.

Certificate of Incorporation: 294731

Charities Number: CC36048

Current Funders:

Canterbury Youth Workers Collective

  • Wayne Francis Charitable Trust
  • Christchurch City Council
  • Rātā Foundation
  • Department of Internal Affairs Youth Worker Training Scheme
  • Community Organisations Grants Scheme (COGS)
  • Lotteries New Zealand

Funders for projects held by CYWC:

Scope

  • Tindall Foundation
  • Wayne Francis Charitable Trust
  • Rātā Foundation

Strengthening the Youth Sector

  • Christchurch City Council
  • Todd Foundation
  • Wayne Francis Charitable Trust
  • Rātā Foundation

Youth Voice Canterbury

  • Ministry of Youth Development
  • Christchurch City Council

Boundaries:

The CYWC geographical boundary is Canterbury; as far west as Arthurs Pass, as far north as Cheviot, as far south as Timaru, as far east as Pegasus Bay (not including Kaikoura).

Office Location

Christchurch Community House

301 Tuam Street

Central City

Christchurch

CYWC Strategic Plan

Contents / Page
  1. Introduction to Strategic Plan
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  1. About CYWC
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  1. Strategic Context
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  1. Vision

  1. Mission

  1. Values

  1. Challenges
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  1. Strategic Goals
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  1. Appendices
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Canterbury Youth Workers Collective Organisation Structure

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Introduction to the Strategic Plan

This document sets out the strategic intent of CYWC for the years 2017 – 2020. It sets out the vision, missions, goals and priorities for this period – and in doing so will:

  • Identify the value and focus of CYWC to members, Youth Workers and youth sector[1] stake-holders
  • Provide assurance to CYWC stakeholders and funders
  • Provide a framework for more detail annual planning by the Board
  • Guide the day to day choices of CYWC staff

This Strategic Plan has been developed by the Board and staff of CYWC. The detailed focus and priorities of the Plan will be reviewed annually by the Board and staff.

This Strategic Plan sets out CYWC’s intent to:

  1. Lead, support, advocate for and training of Youth Workers in Canterbury
  2. Support the development of Youth Workers, youth organisations/services to provide a professional service to the young people they work with

What is Youth Work?

Youth Workers work in many different contexts in New Zealand. What defines their practice is that they work within a positive youth development framework, this supports working from strength-based[2] approaches.

Youth Work is the development of a relationship between a Youth Worker and a young person (generally aged between 12 and 25) by connecting with young people through various programmes, projects, activities and events to empower them and support their holistic, positive development as taiohi[3] that contribute to themselves, their whanau, community and world.

To support Youth Workers to achieve the above, the Canterbury Youth Workers Collective deliver the following:

  • Resources and information
  • Professional development opportunities (training workshops) and qualification advice
  • Promotion of best Youth Work and youth development practice
  • Networking opportunities
  • Promotion of youth participation
  • Professional support and advocacy
  • Representation of the Canterbury Youth Sector at meetings/hui with government, local government and stakeholders

About the Canterbury Youth Workers Collective

Legal status

Incorporated Society

Charitable status, registered with Charities Services New Zealand.

Relationship with Kaumatua

CYWC asked Ruru Hona (Ngā Puhi) to be the organisation’s kaumatua in 2001. Ruru has the blessing of Mark Solomon (Kaiwhakahaere of Ngai Tahu) to act as our kaumatua. Ruru is actively involved in the organisation and supports the CYWC with Taha Māori through:

  • Supporting membership organisations (eg. noho marae)
  • Bicultural training
  • Tikanga advice and support for staff and the board
  • Cultural support of CYWC events and programmes

Development of Tangata Whenua Kaitohutohu

In 2016 with the help of our Kaumatua, CYWC developed our Tangata Whenua Kaitohutohu consisting of a group of Māori experienced in youth development to advise and guide on the bicultural practices of the Canterbury Youth Workers Collective, and actively supports and guides on the implementation of Scope regionally and nationally.

About Us

In July 1986 The Canterbury Youth Workers Training Forum was established by the Department of Internal Affairs, along with 8 other forums in New Zealand. The Forums were each Incorporated Societies, and funded by DIA around $11,000 per annum for Youth Worker training. These forums were run by Youth Workers for Youth Workers. In 1993 the DIA took the funding away from the 9 forums and set up the Youth Worker Training Scheme, which is still operating today. Four of the 9 forums continued to operate as networks. Canterbury was one of these, the other 5 closed. The Canterbury Youth Workers Training Forum was administrated by the Christchurch City Council and run on a voluntary basis by Youth Workers. In 1996 the Canterbury Youth Workers Training Forum became the Canterbury Youth Workers Collective to align itself in name as a branch member of the national Youth Work organisation, the Aotearoa Youth Workers Collective. In late 1996 the Christchurch City Council offered funding to the Collective to employ a full time coordinator. The intent behind this was to create better coordination between Youth Workers and the organisations they worked for.

In 1996 the Canterbury Youth Workers Collective was granted funding to employ a full-time Coordinator. This was a huge step forward for an organisation, which had really struggled being run by volunteers and yet had wanted to do so much for Youth Workers in its region. The Canterbury Youth Workers Collective was formerly the Canterbury Youth Workers Training Forum established in 1986 by the Department of Internal Affairs, as one of nine forums set up throughout New Zealand in that time.

In 1998 the Collective developed the Code of Ethics that the Coordinator wrote as a draft in April. A policy sub-committee group was formed to develop the code and a membership process that would make the code binding to members. This took approximately one year to develop with consultation and submissions.

In 1999 we launched our membership package and Code of Ethics. Youth Workers involved in our Collective endorsed this. There became a process where when you join the Collective you were interviewed and once accepted, you signed a contract so that you are bound to abide by the Collectives Code of Ethics. In the first year we had a membership of 60 Youth Workers.

In 2011 the CYWC was heavily impacted by the Christchurch earthquakes. Since the earthquakes CYWC has broadened its support of the youth development sector, which is reflected in our new goals updated in 2017. In 2012 CYWC was integral in the development of a large-scale youth sector collaboration called the Strengthening the Youth Sector project which sought to address the priorities for young people and those who work with them in the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes. Through this project and the development of Youth Voice Canterbury, CYWC has gone on to play a significant role in support youth participation in the rebuild and in civic life generally. Currently CYWC is the backbone organisation for both the Strengthening the Youth Sector collaboration and the Youth Voice Canterbury Network.

In 2013 we began a project to further develop the tool Scope as a peer review assessment tool for youth development organisations. In 2016 CYWC was successful in attracting a new phase of funding for both Scope and the Strengthening the Youth Sector project. As a result of this Scope became a national project with its own business plan. The Strengthening the Youth Sector project attracted funding to hire an SYS Project Manager and SYS/CYWC Administrator for an 18month period to finish off a number of the projects started under the collaboration and to undertake a review and evaluation to help determine the future of the project. The Youth Voice Canterbury network, a key project of the SYS Project, decided this year to move out from under the SYS Project and sit instead directly under CYWC. CYWC’s agreement and support of this has cemented a key priority for the organisation in a greater and more active supporting youth participation in our region.

Other significant projects of the Canterbury Youth Workers Collective include;

  • Working as part of Public Safety Team at public events that large numbers of young people attend (eg. Christmas in the Park)
  • Consulted on current youth issues from a range of stakeholders
  • Advocacy for Youth Workers
  • Career guidance for Youth Workers
  • Developing projects designed to strengthen the youth sector

Vision

A well supported, connect and professional youth development sector.

Mission

To work collaboratively to strengthen the youth development sector to meet the needs of young people.

Goals

  1. Support the youth development sector to continually raise the standards of practice
  2. Connect the youth development sector
  3. Support the youth development sector to understand and uphold Te Tiriti and encourage genuine bicultural practice
  4. Champion positive youth development
  5. Be responsive to the needs of the youth development sector

Values

  • Inclusive
  • Collaborative
  • Bicultural
  • Ethical
  • Strength Based

The Challenges

The Operational Environment

  • The environment in which CYWC operates is one that needs to be able to adapt to the changing policies and priorities of local and national Government, and our funders.
  • The voluntary nature of Youth Work has always made our sector vulnerable. It is harder now for organisations to find and keep volunteers than ever before, especially in a post-earthquake Christchurch.
  • Remaining relevant through the changing face of Youth Work and the youth development sector

Future Growth

  • As the issues young people face is an increased focus of those in government, increased funding allocated to the youth sector potentially means an increase in demand for Youth Workers. This could require growth in our organization.
  • Pathways for youth participation are being taken seriously by the Christchurch City Council which makes it an ideal time to advocate for this in other areas of a young persons life.
  • Positive youth development is being increasingly accepted by the wider youth development sector which provides further opportunities to support and advocate for and with organisations who work with young people.
  • As Youth Work grows as a profession, training and qualifications will become more sought after as employers will want to be employing those with qualifications as opposed to just experience.

Government (incl. local)

  • Unfortunately Government funding is often a knee-jerk reactive approach which can lead to a focus on funding the deficits of young people. The CYWC supports organisations to work from a strength-based approach which has a focus identifying and developing strengths of young people which can conflict with Government priorities.
  • The Youth Sector is potentially heading toward a two-tiered sector, where those with Ministry of Social Development (MSD) funding contracts are able to flourish as they have access to other funding schemes that MSD hold (for example the Capability Assessment fund and the IT Assessment fund) but are available only to organisations that obtain MSD funding. These organisations have the ability to grow and become sustainable. This makes it difficult for organisations that work with young people in local communities who are small, not-for-profit organisations that do not have Government contracts. These organisations are often the ones who are practicing from a strength-based approach.

Population Profile

  • Challenges around recruiting and training up a younger work force. Challenges also in Youth Work remaining a viable career option for someone looking to support a young family. Organisations like 24-7[4] are very important because they have a large number of Youth Workers aged between 18 – 25.
  • The population profile is also changing: Maori, Pacific and people of Asian descent population groups are increasing in Christchurch[5] therefore Youth Workers need to be able to effectively work with these groups.

Financial Challenges

  • Funding availability and funders (local dynamics). The more organisations applying for funding spreads the available funds thinly.
  • We are not a youth service provider, we support those that work with young people. This puts us at a disadvantage with some funders, as they want to fund organisations that are working at a grass-roots level.
  • One year funding cycles and funders changing their priorities.

Governance

  • Having people with the right skills and expertise.
  • People being unable to commit to being on the Board due to time requirements on top of busy schedules.

Staff Retention

  • The ability to keep staff, succession planning and gaining the right staff.

Strategic Goals

Goal One: Support the youth development sector to continually raise the standards of practice.

Outcome / Measures
Those working with young people have access to effective and relevant trainings and professional development opportunities. /
  • Number attending CYWC training
  • Participants report trainings are effective and relevant

Those working with young people are accountable, connected and supported. /
  • Increased number of members to the Canterbury Youth Workers Collective.
  • Canterbury Youth Workers are join the national professional body of Youth Work.

Goal Two: Connect the youth development sector

Outcome / Measures
The youth development sector is engaged with and connected to the Canterbury Youth Workers Collective /
  • Number attending CYWC Connect Meetings
  • Number receiving CYWC Enewsletter

The youth development sector is connected to each other /
  • Number attending suburban youth work networks

CYWC communicates regularly with the youth development sector /
  • Number of Enewsletters we send per year

Goal Three: Support the youth development sector to understand and uphold Te Tiriti and encourage genuine bicultural practice.

Outcome / Measures
The Tangata Whenua Kaitohutohu is active and effective /
  • Number of meetings of the rōpu
  • Changes to CYWC activities supported by advice from the group

Youth Development workers and their organisations have opportunities to uphold Te Tiriti /
  • Te Tiriti is offered as a part of every Code of Ethics Training delivered
  • Number of trainings with large bicultural element offered

The youth development sector is empowered to practice in a bicultural way. /
  • Participants of CYWC activities report an increased confidence in practicing in a bicultural safe and effective way.

Goal Four: Champion positive youth development

Outcome / Measures
Initiatives and projects led by other groups that support positive youth development are supported by CYWC /
  • Number of external projects CYWC participates in and supports

Youth participation opportunities are supported by CYWC /
  • Number of youth participation opportunities developed under CYWC
  • Regional implementation of the Christchurch Youth Action Plan

The Youth Voice Canterbury network is well-supported /
  • Young people involved report being well-supported and active

The Strengthening the Youth Sector Project is well-supported /
  • An evaluation is completed and new phase is developed
  • Resources developed under the project continue to be used
  • The project continues in a new form from 2018

Goal Five: Be responsive to the needs of the youth development sector

Outcome / Measures
CYWC is aware of current trends and needs in the youth development sector. /
  • CYWC is able to articulate current trends and needs in the youth development sector

The national development and regional roll out of Scope is supported /
  • Greater Christchurch youth organisations are reviewed by Scope
  • Scope Assessors are recruited from and trained in Christchurch
  • Scope reviews begin nationally

Appendix 1: The Youth Sector definition

The Youth Sector includes:

All young people aged 12 – 25 years

  • 12 – 25 is the Commonwealth Youth definition of a young person
  • The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child definition of a young person is 13 years and under
  • Age is also defined in the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 – under 14 defined as a child, 14 – 17 defined as a young person, 17 and over as an adult.

Any organisation/service from a diverse range of contexts that engages with young people, including but not limited to:

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  • Whānau/family
  • Marae
  • Hapu/iwi
  • Voluntary Sector
  • Māori organisations
  • NGOs
  • Statutory organisations
  • Schools
  • Tertiary education
  • Alternative education
  • Training
  • Employment
  • Church/faith-based
  • Pasifika
  • Case work
  • Youth centres/cafes
  • Diverse sexualities and genders (queer)
  • Specialised youth services
  • Youth health centres
  • Refugee and migrant
  • Ethnic groups
  • Sports and recreation
  • Youth justice
  • Neighbourhood/community development
  • Residential facilities
  • Health services
  • People of mixed abilities
  • Rural/urban
  • ABL (Adventure Based Learning)
  • Camps
  • Outdoor pursuits/recreation
  • Youth groups and clubs
  • Uniformed groups (Youth Service Organisations
  • Mentoring programmes
  • Kapa haka/mau rakau
  • Performing arts and visual arts
  • Rites of passage programmes

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Workforce (voluntary and paid) including but not limited to:

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  • Youth Workers
  • Youth Pastors
  • Youth Leaders
  • Youth Development Workers
  • Social Workers
  • Counsellors
  • Youth Health Workers
  • Whanau Workers
  • Managers of Youth Organisations/Services
  • Youth Tutors/Instructors
  • Coaches
  • Mentors

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Stakeholders including but not limited to:

  • Local Authorities
  • Government Agencies
  • Ministry of Youth Development
  • Ministry of Social Development
  • Ministry of Education
  • Family and Community Services
  • Child, Youth and Family
  • Work and Income
  • Department of Corrections
  • Ministry of Justice
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • Ministry of Business Innovation
  • Ministry of Health
  • Funders – Youth
  • Philanthropists
  • Government
  • Local Authorities
  • Business
  • Sponsorship

Appendix 2 – Strength Based Approaches