Youth Participation

The Premier announced Best Practice Principles for Youth Participation (20/06/07) directing Government decision makers to encourage young people to participate in Government decision-making.

Below are resources that may assist you in developing successful youth participations strategies:

All aBoard - produced by Commission for Children and Young People
- Looks at why and how organisations can involve children and young people on boards and committees.

Checking the Scoreboard - produced by the Commission for Children and Young People
- Helps you get feedback from both staff and children and young people involved with your organisation about what's working and where participation activities could be added to or improved.

Conferences and Events - produced by the Commission for Children and Young People
- Helps you run events that make space for children and young people's participation.

Consulting Young People - a practical 'how to' guide for making focus groups fun, interesting, engaging and worthwhile

Count me in! - produced by the Commission for Children and Young People
- Looks at how organisations can involve children and young people in research.

Current Generation Youth Programs: What Works, What Doesn't and at What Cost (PDF 315KB) -  a report from the USA published in 2008.

Developing a Youth Council - a tool to assist Local Government in setting up a Youth Council to advise on youth related issues.  Also available for use are Youth Council Frequently Asked Questions and a Youth Council Application Form.

Meeting together-deciding together - produced by the Commission for Children and Young People
- How to involve children and young people in meetings where decisions are made that affect their lives, such as case-planning meetings.

NSW Youth Participation survey: final report (2004) - produced by the NSW Youth Advisory Council
- Presents findings of a survey of 2,400 young people about how they participate in decision making and would like to participate.

Promoting Children's Participation in Democratic Decision-Making (2001) - produced by UNICEF
- Offers information on how to involve children and young people in conferences. It also includes an overview of Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights Of The Child 12

Review of NSW Local Government Social Plans has been released by the NSW State Government to help local councils better consult and involve young people in the decisions which affect them. The report aims to assist local councils to better identify ways they can involve young people aged 12 to 25 at a local government level.

Time We Started Talking            
- A guide to help young people organise a Youth Mental Health Forum to raise awareness about mental health issues.  Download the Guide (PDF 603KB) and get people along to your forum with this Poster (PDF 379KB).

Child and Youth Participation in Adult Organisations Resource - Produced by Unicef