13 November 2025

Hardly a day goes by without another article being published on “everything that is wrong with our young people.” From crime to mental distress, and from educational achievement to unemployment, our struggling rangatahi have been copping a bad rap. But ask a youth worker what they think of these same young people and they will routinely say “amazing”, “resilient”, “wise”, and “engaged”. So what’s really going on?

Such glowing testimonies about the qualities of taiohi and rangatahi are something that James McGoram, General Manager of the NZ Youth Mentoring Network, knows well.

“We run training events for youth workers, volunteers, teachers, and iwi organisations around the country,” says McGoram, “Some of these workers are dealing with rangatahi in immensely challenging situations, and yet they will say it is from these young people they draw deep inspiration. When we listen to our young people, instead of lecturing them, we learn so much more about their worlds and how to help them navigate their challenges. We also get to appreciate some of their incredible qualities.”

In a first-of-its-kind study, the New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network has explored the extent of youth mentoring in New Zealand and the significantly positive impact that mentoring has on our communities.

“What the study highlights is that youth mentoring is delivered in a wide variety of ways in Aotearoa,” says McGoram, “It is often a very localised response by a community to a specific need they’ve identified. It’s also important to remember that mentoring is not simply a crisis response or a way to ‘fix’ a problem, it’s a way of growing and supporting young people.”

The benefits for youth are not the only positives that come from structured mentoring programmes as Chair of the network, Ann Dunphy, explains: “Mentoring provides an opportunity to foster greater inter-generational connection. It brings people together and creates a space for genuine empathy. As a result of these programmes we see evidence of more social cohesion, improved relationships, and young people empowered with a sense of personal aspiration.”

The study was carried out in partnership with ImpactLab, drawing in-part on data collected for their flagship GoodMeasure studies.

Maria Owen, CEO of ImpactLab, spoke about the challenge of this kind of study. “We were really excited to take this project on as it was different to the GoodMeasure studies we usually do that focus on the work of a single organisation. What the network asked of us was that we explore an entire sector. This required some innovative approaches to data collection and it highlights the opportunity to invest in consistent data collection across the sector”

The study draws attention to a number of areas where good data is lacking, including the substantial contribution of volunteers.

McGoram explains. “What we know is that most mentoring providers are comparatively small charities and run on a very lean basis, so capturing data is usually less-important to them than getting on with the task of supporting their young people. From our point of view, however, we’re keen to understand the extent to which these programmes rely on volunteers because financial statements alone don’t capture the true scale of mentoring.”

Ann Dunphy agrees. “Given the many challenges our young people face, it’s deeply reassuring that affirming programmes for rangatahi exist, and it is clear that better funding for the sector would greatly increase their impact. The message is simple: effective, intentional mentoring must be backed by well-trained and supported people and adapted to local conditions.”

The Youth Mentoring Network will be sharing the report with government agencies, while also holding discussions with the sector in their regular monthly hui. They see the report as a benchmark study that can be built upon in years to come.

“Our vision,” says McGoram, “is that mentoring should one day be available for all who need it. To achieve that we need better understanding of what mentoring is, more funding for quality training, and more people willing to listen to – and not just lecture - our amazing rangatahi.”

The full report can be found at https://www.youthmentoring.org.nz/youth-mentoring-sector-insights-report/

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