It’s important to engage young people in ways that are safe, fun and lead to a genuine impact. But it can be hard to know where to start.
That’s where the Youth Engagement Toolkit comes in. The Toolkit makes sure government departments and agencies have what they need to engage with young people. It also outlines how the Office for Youth can help Australian Government officials undertake youth engagement.
Curious? Read on!
A Toolkit for the Australian Public Service
The Youth Engagement Toolkit has heaps of practical guides to help government departments and agencies work with young people.
That way, the government will be able to embed the experiences of young people when making policies and programs designed for them.
In the Toolkit you will find:
- 8 guides full of advice and support
- templates, handouts, checklists, planners … and more.
The Toolkit is a ‘living resource’ which means that it will be updated frequently by the Office for Youth.
Next step? Read through the Toolkit! Choose a guide to begin:
Guide 1: Toolkit introduction
This guide has a run down on everything you will learn in the toolkit. This includes:
- principles for planning, delivering and evaluating engagement
- what works for youth engagement
- barriers to youth engagement.
Guide 2: Getting into the right mindset
This guide will help you reflect and prepare before your engagement. It will help you:
- understand why youth engagement is important
- recognise power dynamics in youth engagement
- prepare to engage.
Tools and mini-guides in this guide:
Guide 3: Preparing to engage
You’re almost ready to engage. This guide will help you:
- define your scope
- ring together the right skills and people
- build capacity.
Tools and mini-guides mentioned in this guide:
Guide 4: Building skills for impact
Get the most out of your engagement with Guide 4. This guide will help you support both young people and Australian Government officials to get involved in the policy process.
Tools and mini-guides mentioned in this guide:
Guide 5: Ways to engage young people
It’s time to plan and design your engagement. This guide will help you do just that.
Tools and mini-guides in this guide:
Guide 6: Safe and ethical engagement
It’s important to make sure your engagement is ethical. Do this with Guide 6.
Tools and mini-guides in this guide:
Guide 7: Celebrating contributions and closing the feedback loop
There’s a lot of ways you can recognise and celebrate young people’s contributions. This guide has everything you need to know about:
- financial recognition
- certificates
- letters of impact
- closing the feedback loop.
Tools and mini-guides mentioned in this guide:
Guide 8: Tracking impact and outcomes
The engagement might be done and now it’s time to measure the impact. This guide will help you:
- track impact and outcomes
- provide ongoing feedback
- reflect and plan for the future.
Tools and mini-guides in this guide:
Acknowledgements
A lot of people helped us make this Toolkit. We’d like to thank them all.
Thank you to the Young and Resilient Research Centre for supporting the development of the first version of the Toolkit.
Thank you also to all the organisations, Australian Public Service officials and young people who helped by providing their experiences and perspectives along the way.
We are particularly thankful for the Youth Steering Committee. We recognise all their contributions to the Toolkit and their commitment to the success of its implementation going forward.