Dozens of young Maori from all over New Zealand who have shown they have leadership potential will know soon whether they've been selected to be part of the Tuia Rangatahi programme for 2012.
The programme, which is into its second year, is a long-term approach to develop the leadership capacity of Maori men and women between the age of 18 and 25.
It involves city or district council mayors taking a rangatahi under their wing and being prepared to mentor them on a monthly basis over the course of a year.
Programme spokesperson Marcus Akuhata-Brown says, as part of the programme, successful candidates have to spend 100 hours doing a community project of their choice.
He says 30 mayors have indicated they're prepared to be part of the programme this year. That's almost double the number who were mentors in 2011.
Mr Akuhata-Brown says mayors are in the process of interviewing potential programme participants.
