Effectiveness of the Limited Service Volunteer programme in 2014/15 – Evaluation report
The LSV programme is a six-week, work-readiness residential training course delivered in partnership with the New Zealand Defence Force and NZ Police for 18-24 year olds at risk of long-term unemployment. The aim of the programme is to prepare young people for work by building life skills and improving their self-discipline, confidence, motivation and initiative.
The research compared participants to a similar group who didn’t attend the programme.
Findings
We found that outcomes are most pronounced for certain groups:
- People with a higher likelihood of long-term benefit dependence are more likely to spend more time in employment and earn more income.
- Female participants earn more on average than females in the comparison group.
- Male participants and older participants aged 20-24 years spend less time in corrections services, including prison, following the programme.
- Māori spend more time on average in formal training or education following the programme.
- However, younger participants aged 20 years and under achieved a lower level qualification on average than their peers in the comparison group.
Further research is underway which builds on the initial quantitative evaluation, and is expected to be published in 2019.
