About Us

Learn about the Ministry of Youth Development - Te Manatū Whakahiato Taiohi.

Ministry of Youth Development - Te Manatū Whakahiato Taiohi

The Ministry of Youth Development (MYD) - Te Manatū Whakahiato Taiohi encourages and supports the use of a positive youth development approach to help support all young people aged 12-24 years so that they are better able to succeed in, contribute to, and enjoy life. It also supports the broader youth sector and promotes a better understanding of how best to support and empower young people.  

MYD spends around $12.062 million per year (excluding the Ākonga Youth Development Community Fund) on a wide range of youth development initiatives and on supporting initiatives across the youth sector.

MYD is a small organisation that achieves big results by partnering and working with and through others. We work collaboratively with young people, other funders (including corporates and philanthropic organisations), providers, local government, and other government agencies.

MYD is administered by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) - Te Manatū Whakahiato Ora.

Our Minister

Hon Matt Doocey is the Minister for Youth.

What We Do

Our aim is for all young people in Aotearoa New Zealand to be able to succeed in, contribute to and enjoy life.

We support this by focusing on the following areas:

  • Funding programmes that use a youth development approach when working with young people and that deliver wellbeing outcomes for young people
  • Supporting equitable access to positive youth development programmes to help ‘level the playing field’. Seven priority areas have been identified for particular focus to help achieve this, these are;
    • Rangatahi Māori
    • Pacific young people
    • Rainbow young people*
    • Disabled young people
    • Young women
    • Young people from ethnic communities (in particular former refugees and recent migrants)
    • Young people living in the regions.**
  • Working in partnership with the business and philanthropic sectors, iwi and other government organisations to jointly invest in delivering wellbeing outcomes for young people.
  • Supporting the continual growth of youth sector capability.
  • Supporting youth enterprise and entrepreneurship initiatives to help prepare young people for the future work environment.
  • Ensuring that young people have a voice that is heard and have opportunities for real decision-making, including at the governance table.
  • Celebrating and recognising the achievements and potential of young people.

* We use the term ‘Rainbow’ to include all people under the sex, sexuality and gender diversity umbrellas.

** 'The Regions' refers to non-urban, rural and often isolated regions across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Use of the MYD logo

MYD has strict guidelines about the reproduction and use of the MYD logo.

Information on the use of the Ministry of Youth Development logo

Transparency Statement

Engage with us on social media

Follow our social media channels and join the conversation. MYD has a presence on Instagram and Facebook.

How we use social media

We use social media to uplift youth voice, share information on our programmes and services, and enable conversations via direct message. By following the MYD Instagram or Facebook, you can expect to see some or all of the following:

  • new content (news, profiles, media releases, campaigns, etc.)
  • invitations to share your voice as a young person
  • information about youth development opportunities
  • stories and profiles on what young people are doing throughout Aotearoa New Zealand
  • other posts, articles or publications that may be of interest to our audiences.

Personal expression

We will often use social media to share or celebrate the voices of young people. Posts made by others that are shared on our platform/s are the responsibility of the person or organisation that made them, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or policy of our Ministry.

Terms of use

Before engaging with us on social media, we encourage you to read each channel’s terms of use.

By using or accessing our social media platforms, you are considered to have consented to the conditions of use of the particular social media channel and our individual page or account. These terms of use apply to all our social media channels, unless otherwise specified.

Direct message

You're invited to contact us by direct message. We welcome messages, feedback, and ideas from our followers, particularly from young people.

We will not enter into any discussion related to politics.

We try to respond to all direct messages within two working days but cannot guarantee individual responses. If you have an urgent query, please contact us directly at MYDinfo[at]myd.govt.nz

User content

We may re-post content by other individuals and/or organisations for the interest of our followers. However, we do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information they share.

Monitoring

All social media accounts are monitored from 9:00am – 5:00pm on weekdays and sporadically outside of these hours.

Moderation

We reserve the right to report or remove any posts or comments that do not comply with:

In addition, we reserve the right to remove posts or comments on our pages that:

  • have political bias or affect our political neutrality
  • are deemed offensive or discriminatory
  • contain swear words
  • share personal information (including photos or videos) without the person’s consent
  • are considered ‘spam’ or not relevant
  • are considered disruptive or ‘trolling’
  • link-baits (links embedded in your post to draw traffic to another site)
  • refer to any commercial activity, including advertising.

We may, at our discretion:

  • inform you if we remove your comments and give you the opportunity to post revised comments, or
  • report, block or ban anyone who post the above content or comments, or who breach the terms of use set out by each social media channel.

Who we follow

We may follow/like organisations and individuals that are relevant to our organisation. This does not imply endorsement or guarantee the accuracy of the information they share.

Privacy

We will generally only use personal information that you share or provide for the purposes for which you supplied it for, and we only share information if it is necessary to do so for the purpose for which you gave it to us. We may however use or share your information for other reasons where it is permitted by law, including under the Privacy Act 1993.

We encourage you to protect your personal privacy and that of others when using social media, and to take into account the public nature of social media. Where our social media channels are run by third parties, we encourage you to read their privacy policy as well as terms of use.

Disclaimer

The contents of the MYD social media accounts are intended for informational purposes only. In no event will we accept any liability for loss or damage suffered by any person or body due to information provided on these sites or linked sites.

The information on our social media sites and all government websites is provided on the basis that persons accessing the website undertake responsibility for assessing the relevance and accuracy of its content.

MSD social media terms & conditions

As MYD is administered by the MSD, we will also adhere to the Ministry of Social Development social media terms and conditions.

Questions or concerns

If you have questions, comments or concerns about how we are using social media, please email MYD: MYDinfo[at]myd.govt.nz.

Statement review

This policy will be reviewed at least every 12 months. It was last updated in September 2024.