A Dunedin branch of Youth Search and Rescue (Ysar) has opened and is accepting expressions of interest for its first intake.
Dunedin branch manager Harrie Geraerts said the organisation offered a three-year training programme for young people aged 14-18.
"It is basically getting them ready to enter the search and rescue and emergency management sectors."
Young people typically attend a classroom lecture every Wednesday night, and participate in a weekend field exercise once a month.
Skills the young people learn include navigation, first aid, search and rescue, bushcraft, operating unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones, and understanding co-ordinated incident management systems.
Ysar, which began in 2005 offering training in Hamilton and Tauranga, has recently begun to expand, adding four branches in 2023 and three more given the go ahead for 2024, for a total of nine fully operational branches, Mr Geraerts said.
The Dunedin branch will take about 10-15 students for its first year of training in 2024, gradually building up to accepting 20-23 students each year.
A leadership team was now in place and it was investigating potential venues to be ready for their first students starting in February 2024.
Mr Geraerts has a degree in outdoor education and had previously been a civil defence volunteer and rope rescue technician.
Watching the youths grow over the three-year journey was one of the best aspects of the programme, he said.
"They come in as your typical 14-year-old — immature, big mouth, real cocky, not really focused — and by the end of the three years they are really young adults.
"They just become an asset to the community, you can throw them into any situation and they just perform."
The programme encourages young people to problem-solve under pressure and figure out solutions for themselves.
"Our exercises are basically simulations, depending on the exercise that we are doing that weekend.
"For simulations it could just be a missing person — it could go anywhere from an hour search near their camp to a three-day search through the bush."
The local environment is a consideration when training the young people.
For Dunedin some challenges could be dense bush, open country and tussock lands.
"Our training is tailored pretty broadly, we get them a good foundation of skills, and then when they move to another part of the country they will specialise in whatever area they are in."
- Expressions of interest can be lodged at ysar.nz for the 2024 intake.
