National MP Nikki Kaye's tour of Tauranga had her visiting different schools with Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller.

They talked with teachers and principals about all sorts of different issues but one discussion in particular was about the Graeme Dingle Foundation Kiwi Can Programme.

The Graeme Dingle Foundation is a child and youth charity founded by Sir Graeme Dingle and Jo-anne Wilkinson in 1995 as the Project K Trust.

Founded in 2004, The Graeme Dingle Foundation is a leader in the field of child and youth development, running several successful proven programmes – Kiwi Can, Stars, Career Navigator, Project K and MYND.

The foundation currently runs the Kiwi Can, Project K and STAR programmes, helping 3200 local youngsters every year.

Nikki and Todd visited Mount Manganui Intermediate to discuss the Kiwi Can programme.

'The programme is all about teaching the kids resilience,” says Graeme Dingle Foundation regional manager Dan Allen.

'We teach them all about digital citizenship, and have intentional teaching to teach them more about what could be going on around them.”

'We have different learning values each term and they fit in with the schools learning values as well.”

Nikki was astonished to learn about the programme and was amassed by all the different stories that she was being told.

'We need to help teachers and principals as much as we can and we need to help them build for the future,” says Nikki.

The Kiwi Can programme is currently in 10 schools throughout the Western Bay District, but with costs increasing and a growing role, the team needs to expand.

'We need to see what we can do about funding to let this programme expand and develop into more schools,” says Nikki.