AYAC News

Aug 3, 2010

Australian Youth Affairs Coalition – Research Project Report

‘Where are you going with that?’ is a question often asked by young people who are engaged by organisations and government in consultation.  They want to know where their views are going and whether or not they have a real opportunity to impact on change.

This report by the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition (AYAC) is the culmination of an exploration of young people’s inclusion in decision making, their experiences and their perceptions  about to what  level their ideas have been heeded by policy makers.

In addition to looking at young people’s perceptions, AYAC takes an important step forward in looking critically at youth participation  practices by  attempting to identify barriers that prevent young people’s impact on policy and how organisations can evolve to be more  open to young people’s views.

AYAC’s research found that much of the work previously undertaken in relation to youth participation both in Australia and globally focuses primarily on clearly articulating what effective participation looks like. This manifests itself in a wealth of literature and toolkits available to assist youth participation practitioners to design and implement strategies that have a greater ability to engage wider and more representative groups of young people in decision making.

Despite the strong emphasis on utilising effective practice, there is little evidence readily available to suggest that young people’s views are making a measurable difference both in the organisations they are engaged with or on wider public policy issues.

To download the research report, please click here (1.6MB)

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