Bringing the PYDA into
everyday mahi

A resource becomes useful when people can see how it connects to their own work. The Youth Development Champions Project brings the PYDA into training, kōrero and ongoing learning.

It helps people recognise the good practice they already bring, work through questions and strengthen how they support rangatahi. That includes youth workers, educators, health practitioners, coaches, community leaders and people whose decisions affect young people more indirectly.

The learning can be practical: a coach considering the whole person behind the player; a team reviewing who gets a say in programme design; or an organisation thinking about its relationships with whānau.

Head over to the Youth Development Champions website to learn more and find out about upcoming trainings.

In 2026, the Youth Development Champions Project came in house after four years of delivery under contract. Penny Prescott and Angelina Tivalu joined our kaimahi, bringing their experience, relationships and knowledge of youth development into the Foundation.

The mahi includes full-day training, shorter and follow-on workshops, online learning and communities of practice where people can keep reflecting and learning together.

We’re also exploring how the PYDA can become part of tertiary youth work education. Our longer-term hope is for it to become a familiar foundation for practice, with more people able to access it and use it well.

The PYDA helps people look at both their relationships with rangatahi and the wider conditions shaping young people’s lives.

When that thinking informs programme design, organisational decisions, funding and community relationships, its influence can reach beyond any one worker or workshop. It can help change whose knowledge is valued, who makes decisions and what opportunities are available.

We need to put that thinking into practice ourselves too
– in what we fund, how we make decisions and how we work alongside others.

That’s why we’ve stayed with this mahi. Supporting a skilled, connected youth sector helps strengthen the everyday support around rangatahi. The PYDA gives us
a shared foundation to keep building on.