|
Have your say > What is youth participation
What is youth participation?
“We have rights too... we are the future of New Zealand and we need to have a say....” Group of Auckland secondary school students
Having your say is all about youth participation in decision making -
giving young people the chance to get involved in decisions which
affect their lives and their communities.
There are heaps of decisions made by adults in organisations and the
government which affect young people from making new laws to the daily
business of an organisation. Places like schools, hospitals, local
councils and government departments are seeing that it is important to
involve young people in decision making.
"If organisations really knew the good stuff that can happen when
you involve young people in decision making everyone would be in on it."
Former youth board member, 17 years
Two really important things say that youth participation is important. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
states that all young people have the right to participate. It says
young people have the right to express opinions and have their opinions
taken into account in decisions that affect them.
Youth participation is also a key principle in the Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa.
The Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa is New Zealand’s plan of action
for young people and is all about supporting young people in Aotearoa
to have great lives and futures. It says that having youth
participation helps to make sure that policies, services and programmes
meet young people’s needs.
“Programmes and services work better for youth if they are defined by youth, developed by youth and driven by youth.”
A New Zealand City Council
I want to have my say! Getting involved in youth participation
Here are some of the things you could think about doing to get change
happening for young people and to be a part of youth participation in
decision making.
- Check out and join up with the Provoke Network to hook into some youth participation opportunities.
- Apply to be a youth councillor in the next round of elections if your council has a youth council.
- Find out what your local youth council are working on and how you can contribute.
- If you don’t have a youth council in your area, talk with the
local council, youth organisations and other young people and
think about setting up a young people’s advisory group or council in
your community.
- If you belong to a youth organisation, what ways do they have set
up for young people to be a part of decision making and have their
voices heard? Talk to your organisation about youth participation in
decision making and suggest they set up systems for young people to
have a say on the programmes, services and direction of the
organisation.
- Download this youth led youth participation toolkit.
- Put a proposal to your local council to organise a youth forum to
work out what the top issues are for young people in your community.
- Know some organisation which is going to run an event for young
people? Suggest to them they get a youth organising committee together
specifically for the project if they haven’t got one already (and get
involved if they do!)
- Check out what is going on in Parliament and government stuff
which young people are affected by and follow it up by getting your
voice to the right decision makers (Writing a submission to a select
committee? Writing a letter to a politician? Doing a petition? Go to
the Youth Action Guides for help)
- Check out other youth action examples
Top of page
|