The Scouts Aotearoa New Zealand Youth in Governance Network (YIGN) was created in 2016 as a response to a review of the previous Youth Council structure that sat within Scouts Aotearoa’s governance space alongside the National Council.
The Scouts Aotearoa National Council consists of three under 26 and three any age representatives from five electorates across the country. Every member of the National Council is considered equal and all share the right to vote on decisions made by the National Council. The Movement proudly has no minimum age for joining the National Council, with the youngest member so far being 14 years old. The National Board also has two specific positions for members under 26.
YIGN was born from the recommendations of a review process, which found that the Youth Council lacked clarity of purpose and distracted from the governance duties of its members. The review also highlighted that because young people have not had previous opportunities to sit in governance bodies, that they needed a space where they could obtain the skills so they can confidently contribute to decisions and discussions at the National Council.
Thus, the Youth in Governance Network (YIGN) was created to make a safe space for all National Council members under 26 to focus on developing their governance skills and building connections to support them. With the two U26 Board members acting as co-facilitators for the group; YIGN provides peer-to-peer support, guest speakers, and workshops aimed at upskilling the U26 members of the National Council to maximise their impact. YIGN has always remained an open and diverse space, open to any aged member of the National Council also wishing to upskill alongside the YIGN members. By intentionally putting effort into supporting young people, the any age members of the National Council have also received better support, such as more comprehensive induction processes.
Strong inductions and the YIGN have changed the conversation at the National Council, there is a collective understanding of purpose and intentional positive use of intergenerational dialogues. As a result, discussions and decision-making are more focussed, future impact driven and the solutions presented have already been proven to be more successful because they combine both wisdom and experience with innovation and creative new thinking.
Investing in The Youth in Governance Network has been very rewarding because YIGN has not only been successful in upskilling young people in strategic thinking and governance, but the group has also unintentionally morphed into a training ground for those interested in joining the National Scout Board of Directors. Currently 5/9 members of the Board (including the National Chief Commissioner) have come on through from the Youth in Governance Network.
The YIGN has had a profound positive impact on the organisation. So much so that the practice of splitting/expanding the opportunity for roles has spread to operational teams such as the Youth Programme and Diversity and Inclusion teams, as well as many others. This means that within each defined role there is an any age position and an U26 position open for application.