Models of youth participation
Hart’s Ladder and Shier’s Pathways to Participation are two models that can be useful when developing and reviewing youth participation projects. Both models can help you decide the most suitable level of youth participation for your project. These models can be used by themselves or together to evaluate and improve youth participation in your organisation.
Hart's Ladder
Hart's Ladder provides an easy way to evaluate the quality of youth participation in any project. Using Hart's Ladder can help organisations to identify and get rid of non-participation practices. It encourages people to climb off the lower levels of non-participation and think of ways to genuinely engage young people in the higher levels of participation.
Shier's Pathway to Participation
Youth participation is a process rather than a specific event or project. Shier's Pathways to Participation model is useful in assessing organisational readiness and commitment to youth participation beyond individual projects.