Not having a driver licence prevents thousands of young people in provincial New Zealand from getting a job, helping their families or leading fulfilling lives.

In 2020 South Waikato Investment Fund Trust (SWIFT) decided to help remove the driver licence barrier by offering free driver licences, training and support to every high school student attending a school in the South Waikato district, across all the district's high schools - Tokoroa High School, Forest View High School, Putāruru College, Te Wharekura O Te Kaokaoroa O Patetere and Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Te Hiringa. Since the project began 692 students have gained a learner, restricted or full driver licence.

SWIFT research done before the driver licence funding started showed the barriers for young South Waikato people gaining a licence were:

• 66% were not confident they would pass
• 58% said paying for their licences
• 29% said paying for driving lessons
• 17% said paying for petrol to practice driving
• 22% said access to an adult with a full licence to teach them
• 14% said access to a car with a current WOF and registration

Since January 2023 the programme has been run by Putāruru-based Transform Aotearoa Charitable Trust. From 1 January 2024 to 19 August 2024 the programme has provided 140 driving lessons enabling 65 students to gain learner licences, 30 to gain restricted licences (with 20 more have been booked for October and November) and one to gain a full licence.

Transform Aotearoa CEO Howard Goold says his organisation shares the same goal as SWIFT to enable the district's young people. "We have been doing a driver training programme for senior high school students for the last few years and we have a high pass rate. We have a system that seems to be working.

SWIFT Chief Executive Amanda Hema says, "We could see the high success rate Transform Aotearoa was having in Putāruru and wanted to roll that out across South Waikato. We approached them to see if they would run our driver training programme."

Transform Aotearoa Putāruru Community Liaison Lamen Hohaia, who is the main driving instructor for the programme, says instructors need to get onto a level where the students can trust them. Lamen is assisted by his daughter Amber Hohaia.

"You've got to be able to talk to kids at their level, so they can express themselves," says Lamen. "You get them from all walks of life. We assess them straight way. Of 35 questions if they get 12 wrong, that gives us a gauge.

"If we have a group of 12 over a two-week period, typically seven to eight will pick it up and then you will have the slow ones. We will work closely with the remaining four or five.

"Some have ADHD, autism or Aspergers. You need to recognise that and teach them in other ways. You need to be a good reader of people and sometimes you really need to engage your brain to think of different ways to engage to get what you want from them.

"We start with the theory. At high schools we give three one hour 20-minute sessions. We work with young people who can't read and write. We don't want them to fail so if they can't pass my test, we won't put them through to do the real test until they are ready.

"The students then go on to learner driving which is six months later. We tell them to go and see their Mum and Dad and get some drive time. We don't want to waste time teaching them where the pedals are. We can teach them everything else about driving. There are six or seven things they must learn.

"For the theory I have a 100% pass rate. For the practical we have independent assessors from NZTA. We are sitting at a 90% pass rate for restricted licences. If they don't pass, it's often because they fail to stop at a stop sign or to give way or they speed. The three things we work hard on are signalling, speed and head checks - looking at their rear vision and side mirrors.

"This term we've been giving each student three practical driving lessons. We have a mapped out a route in Putāruru and the same thing in Tokoroa. If they fail, they get a couple more lessons. We haven't had anyone fail on a resit."

Mr Hohaia has been a driving instructor for 10 years, helping about 30 to 40 people every month over that time to get their driver licence.

Ms Hema said the SWIFT was created by South Waikato District Council in 2014 to drive economic and social benefit across the district.

"In order to drive economic growth, we first need to put in place the social building blocks. That's why SWIFT funds not-for-profit organisations to deliver education and training opportunities to enable people to enter the workforce.

"Supporting community infrastructure like the free driving licence training being run by Transform Aotearoa encourages businesses to invest because they know can get capable staff and that, in turn, improves the quality of life in the district. It's a virtuous circle."