Would you like to work as a youth worker, community worker or in another related field in the future?
Would you like to know more about Youth Work, Volunteering or Leadership?
About the Young Leaders Programme
Volunteer Nelson works together with Youth and Community Works, a premium youth education and events provider, to bring you the Young Leaders Programme. Through the programme, you work towards a 45 Credit NCEA Level 3 Certificate in Youth Work. One of the practical assignments for this is to put on or be a part of a team volunteering project involving other young volunteers. That is the volunteering aspect.
What does the programme involve?
The Young Leaders Programme involves an intensive five days of training followed by six months of support to finish off practical assignments. A project is one of your practical assignments, mentoring a young person for a period of time is the other.
What are the benefits?
The Young Leaders Programme helps you develop skills in teamwork, leadership, project management, working with young people and loads of other transferable skills. There is no cost to you to be a part of the Young Leaders Programme. The course is open to 16 – 24 year olds.
Key details
Free qualification
Open to 16 – 24 year olds
One week of training plus six months of support to finish practicals (project/mentoring)
You come away with a 45 Credit Level 3 Certificate in Youth Work

Young Leaders groups in previous years

Time commitment
You need to be available for the whole training week. Monday 25th – Friday 29th January, 9.30am – 5pm at NMIT
There will be monthly follow up meetings for 6 months following the training.
A minimum of 20hrs volunteering on project and mentoring over 6 months is required
Where do I read more about the qualification?
Careerforce are the industry-training provider that provide the accreditation for the course. For more about the qualification go to their website here.
Why do Volunteer Nelson run the Young Leaders Programme?
Volunteer Nelson runs the programme because it grows youth volunteering. You are deciding on volunteering projects to do and involving your peers. Youth led projects are much more likely to be appealing to other young people. Examples of past projects are a clothing swap, organising the club’s information day for school, being part of the organising group for a camp or an art exhibition. You can get involved in or start whatever kind of project you like.
When and where is the next programme?
Applications are now closed for the 2021 Young Leaders Programme. The next programme will begin in Jan 2022 with applications closing in Dec 2021.
How do I get involved?
To express your interest in the programme just fill in the form below, email [email protected] or phone 03 546 7681 extn 3.
Read more:
See below for some stories about Young Leaders.
Youth lead Change
The Young Change Makers event on Friday was a huge success with young people from…
Young Change Makers connect with post-Covid youth opportunities
Young people from across Nelson Tasman are getting together at a forum to help them…
Rātā Foundation Video of Young Leaders Project
The Rātā Foundation, a Volunteer Nelson funder, made a short video of one of our…
Youth-led Volunteering Projects
Young Leaders Training Week has just finished for the year and we are looking forward…










