Launched in 2019, City Rail Link’s Progressive Employment Programme (PEP) provides career and personal development opportunities for Māori and Pasifika youth. Designed to remove the barriers to employment and prepare participants for the world of work, it delivers on-the-job training and support that’s quite literally transforming lives.

“The PEP is about individuals and growing the capability and confidence of the rangatahi to get a career,” says Education Unlimited Director Tina Rose. “It gives young people a genuine opportunity to try something new and develop the skills they need to become work ready. There’s also a big ripple effect – by boosting outcomes for rangatahi, whānau and communities are also uplifted and supported to thrive.”

During the 16-week programme PEP interns have the chance to try different roles within the City Rail Link project, including admin, IT, carpentry and traffic control through the Link Alliance (which is building the project’s main stations and tunnels). Customised skills training is provided by Education Unlimited and encompasses everything from understanding the jargon in contracts (including tricky words like ‘remuneration’), to making sense of payslips and PAYE. The Education Unlimited team initially included the health and safety digital badge -  Write up, Speak up, Be Safe. More recently and in response to the hunger for digital literacy with the interns, Future Ready Money Confidence is being included. 

“Interns want to know things like how tax works if they have a second job, what happens if they have a student loan, and how to approach someone in the accounts department if their pay isn’t what they thought it would be. Equipping rangatahi with the skills to communicate effectively in the workplace is critical – we all need soft skills to be the best we can be.”

Supporting better employment outcomes for Māori and Pasifika is something both organisations are deeply passionate about, and through PEP they are doing just that by building confidence and competence, providing relevant work-ready skills, and creating meaningful career pathways within the construction, infrastructure and rail sectors.

Link Alliance Social Outcomes Manager Berenize Peita says Education Unlimited has been an ideal partner for the programme.

“We needed an organisation that was passionate about helping rangatahi to succeed while also having flexibility to be able to respond to learners’ needs,” she says. “Education Unlimited pride themselves on being able to deliver tailor made workplace training with clear outcomes but with the agility to adapt to the individual or cohort’s specific needs. We are thankful to have worked with Education Unlimited, there has definitely been growth in knowledge and together as people we have grown – especially the PEP rangatahi.”

To find out more about how the PEP internship programme is building brighter futures for Aotearoa New Zealand’s rangatahi check out this video of the latest group of graduates (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K35if4wCUWE).