OPEN and YACVic’s Youth Participation Practice Network (YPPN) recently came together for Learning Together for Better Outcomes, an OPEN Mini-Symposium exploring how to meaningfully engage young people while strengthening outcomes, learning and service improvement.
Youth participation and evidence-informed practice are most powerful when connected. Participation shows organisations what matters to young people, while evidence and evaluation help determine whether services are responding effectively and improving outcomes.
We heard from Lucy Ruchel and Robyn Freestone from Youth Support + Advocacy Service (YSAS), and Mark Rayner from Wombat Housing Support Services, who shared practical examples of participation and evaluation in action. Hear how incremental change is achievable – without assuming organisations need large teams, complex systems or significant new funding to get started.
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Since 2024, YACVic’s Youth Participation Practice Network (YPPN) and the Outcome Practice and Evidence Network (OPEN) have combined their strengths in youth participation, evidence, evaluation and organisational learning. The partnership centres young people’s voices, connects learning across sectors and uses reflection and continuous improvement to strengthen services and outcomes.
YPPN is YACVic’s flagship practice network, connecting more than 600 Victorian youth-sector professionals to strengthen youth participation, youth engagement and the diverse voices of young people.
Membership is free, with registration available through YPPN.
Robyn and Lucy shared reflections on YSAS’ long-standing commitment to youth participation and the journey of embedding young people’s voices across service delivery, leadership and governance.
They walked us though YSAS’ Ideas Day journey, which creates opportunities for young people to share their experiences and influence organisational priorities. Since its introduction, Ideas Day has evolved to become a key mechanism for ensuring young people’s perspectives help inform decision-making across the organisation. Over the years, the initiative has expanded from a small engagement activity to one delivered across multiple sites, incorporating a range of approaches to ensure more young people can participate in ways that work for them.
“People can see that we actually do something in response to the feedback that we get from young people.”
Reflecting on the growth of Ideas Day, Robyn highlighted the importance of acting on feedback and demonstrating that participation leads to change. She shared an example of feedback received from one Idea Day site, where young people described the format as feeling “like a classroom…and we don’t like it”. The team worked with the site to explore different approaches and redesign the process, introducing more flexible participation options and adapting the format to better meet the needs of the young people involved. Rather than expecting everyone to participate in the same way, YSAS created opportunities for young people to engage through one-on-one conversations, small groups and larger group discussions.
By taking a tailored approach and creating multiple pathways for participation, YSAS has been able to better meet young people where they are and ensure a broader range of voices can contribute to organisational decision-making.
The site has since become one of the most successful and well-attended Ideas Day locations, demonstrating the value of listening, adapting and responding to feedback. Robyn’s reflection reinforced a key message from the session: meaningful participation is not just about asking for feedback, but about acting on it in ways that make participation more accessible, relevant and meaningful for young people.
Mark reflected on Wombat Housing Support Services‘ evaluation journey with OPEN, and how evaluation can become a powerful tool for organisational learning.
The work centred on Wombat’s Pathways to Independence Program (PIP), which supports young people transitioning from out-of-home care into independent living. Through evaluating the program, Wombat gained a deeper understanding of the outcomes that matter most to young people. Alongside housing stability and independence, the evaluation highlighted the importance of relationships, trust and consistent support in helping young people achieve their goals.
While the project focused on the PIP program, Mark reflected on how the learning extended far beyond a single evaluation. Building on the initial evaluation work, the team continued the learning journey internally, engaging staff in conversations about outcomes and what success looks like for the young people they support. These discussions helped build evaluation capability across the organisation, with learnings from the evaluation creating new opportunities for reflection, learning and continuous improvement.
“The process is the outcome… it’s the journey and the destination.”
This reflection from Mark resonated throughout his presentation. He highlighted that many of the most significant outcomes emerged not from the final evaluation report, but from the conversations, reflection and shared learning that occurred along the way. Through developing program logics, discussing outcomes and creating space for staff to learn together, the evaluation process became a catalyst for strengthening organisational culture, capability and continuous improvement.
Approaches to thematic analysis and making sense of qualitative data: Mandy and Sarah from OPEN discussed how qualitative data can be analysed against outcomes identified within a program logic or evaluation framework, while remaining open to unexpected findings. Mandy highlighted the value of developing clear evaluation questions early and linking them to the program logic and monitoring and evaluation plan. Doing this creates a roadmap for analysing qualitative data, helping organisations stay focused on the outcomes they are exploring while remaining open to unexpected insights.
Embedding feedback into programs and services: The discussion highlighted the importance of moving beyond collecting feedback and creating ongoing, accessible opportunities for young people to share their views. By embedding feedback into everyday practice and decision-making processes, organisations can ensure young people’s perspectives continue to influence service design, delivery and improvement.
Sustaining leadership support and organisational commitment: Presenters described organisational buy-in as a gradual journey, beginning with a small group of committed staff and growing as executive and governance leaders saw the value and impact of youth participation. Sustaining this support requires embedding participation in organisational strategy, backing it with dedicated resources, acting on feedback and demonstrating tangible change. Strong relationships, open communication, patience and persistence – along with local partnerships in rural communities – help build trust and maintain a whole-of-organisation commitment over time.
Mark Rayner, General Manager with Wombat will share reflections from the organisation’s evolving evaluation journey. Drawing on practical experience, Mark will explore how evaluation capability can extend beyond a single project, support organisational learning and help services better understand the outcomes that matter to young people. He will also consider the realities of embedding evaluation through change, and the importance of approaches that are meaningful, useful and workable for staff.
YSAS has a long and proud history of Youth Participation, but it has taken a lot of hard work to get there. Lucy and Robyn the Co-Managers of the Youth Participation team will discuss how they have gotten to where they are now, with a team of six at head office and many youth participation practices, including YSAS’ successful Ideas Day process, which supports youth voice directly into leadership and governance.
About YACVic
Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic) is the peak body and leading advocate for young people aged 12-25 and youth workers in Victoria. Our vision is that young people are active, visible and valued in their communities.
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