OPEN Case Study: We Hear YOUth - Amplifying young people's voices in decision making.

About the Organisation

Thorne Harbour Country is an organisation that supports and uplifts members of the LGBTQIA+ community across the Loddon Mallee area. They work directly with community initiatives to decrease stigma and social barriers. In collaboration with DHHS, Thorne Harbour Country played a crucial role in designing the "We Hear YOUth" project. The program aimed to incorporate the voices of young people into the design, delivery, and evaluation of youth projects and initiatives in the Loddon Mallee region.

We Spoke With

Kate Phillips
Project Manager: We Hear YOUth

We Hear YOUth Participants

OPEN Evaluation Team

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The Project

The ‘We Hear YOUth Project’ objectives were to create a youth peer interviewer network to support the engagement of young people in shaping local policy, as well as designing and delivering services. The aim was to train young people as peer interviewers to capture the voices of young people and involve them in decisions that impact their lives. In addition to gaining new skills in interviewing and research, it was expected that participation would provide the peer interviewers professional development, learning pathways and employment opportunities. The project was seeking to strengthen youth participation and decision making in local service delivery and design which would enable more effective service environments for the young people in Loddon Mallee.
As part of the DHH’s commitment to the Client Voice Framework, the “We Hear YOUth” project was conducted from July 2020 to July 2021.

Program Participants
Initially, 14 young people applied for the project, representing five local government areas in Loddon Mallee. The project began with 11 participants despite COVID-19 affecting recruitment. Five young people aged between 15 and 19 left the project in the first few weeks due to prior commitments, leaving 6 participants between the ages of 20 and 24. Three participants were enrolled in university or TAFE, and two participants worked part-time. Two-thirds of the group had prior leadership experience with advisory or community organisations.

Partners
Thorne Harbour Country partnered with:
DHHS and multiple local government areas within the DHHS Loddon region (Campaspe Shire, Central Goldfield Shire, City of Greater Bendigo, Loddon Shire, Macedon Ranges Shie and Mount Alexander Shire) to provide funding, resources and consultative opportunities.
Victoria University and YLAB were commissioned to create a subsidised peer interviewing training course and training activities for the We Hear YOUth Project.

The Challenge

The Population, Health and Community Wellbeing Unit (PHCW) in Loddon identified a lack of young people trained in the necessary skills and knowledge to conduct interviews safely and ethically with their peers. The research suggest that the best way to gather the views of young people for projects, policies, and research is through a peer-to-peer approach. Peer interviewing is an effective method for creating a safe, secure, and youth-friendly environment and increasing youth engagement rates.¹

Moreover, government policies and frameworks, such as the DHHS Client Voice Framework, the National Principles for Child Safe Organisation, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, emphasis the importance of ensuring engagement and input by young people in the development of policy and practice. These policies highlight children and young people’s rights to participate in decision-making that affects their interests.

The Journey

The We Hear YOUth project took the first step by recognising young people as experts. Thorne Harbour Country’s values of youth participation and inclusion centred around the belief that young people’s voices are critical for creating and changing social policy and implementing place-based projects effectively, underpinned the program. Development of the program logic enabled the project’s implementation based on the assumption that a peer approach was the most effective way to engage the voices of young people. Additionally, qualitative data from previous youth-focused projects and research helped inform the program’s logic.

The project aimed to establish relationships with local government areas, youth networks, and service providers to create a training program. The program wanted to enhance the interviewing skills of youth researchers in peer-to-peer interactions and ethical considerations. Its objective was to increase the confidence of young participants.

The trained youth researchers provided a network of peer-to-peer interviewers, which promoted improved communication between young people. This initiative allowed more young people to contribute their voices to service delivery and positively impact social policy and place-based programs within the Loddon area.

There were three stages of the program:

The Training Stage: Participants receive a training program from a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) to develop interviewing and data analysis skills for ethically sourcing youth voices for policy and service development.
The Peer Interviewing Stage: After training, participants operate as peer interviewers, gathering input and direction from other young people to contribute to and enhance the design and delivery of projects, social policy, and local initiatives.
The Impact Stage: As more young people become equipped to be peer interviewees, there are opportunities for young people interviewees to contribute to the sector on relevant issues, resulting in programs, policies, and services that better meet the needs of young people.

The Outcomes

Improvement in the participants’ confidence, skill development and capacity across a wide range of competency areas
Increased capacity and work experience history
Clear contribution to building educational and employment pathways, along with actual employment opportunities.

We Hear YOUth achieved what it set out to do and successfully skilled six young people in advocacy and peer interviewing so that they could improve youth participation in the development of social policy and community projects. It was also successful in empowering the young people who took part in navigating and engaging with new education and employment pathways.

The project managed to increase external organisations’ recognition of young people and the positive impact they can have on policy and services. The Steering Committee and participants alike also felt more committed to youth voices and took additional steps to improve the sector.

Skills and experiences the participants reported after completing the program:

Participants gained a comprehensive understanding of research, covering interviewing, planning, coding, and reporting.
Activities within the program boosted participants’ confidence in leadership roles and enhanced interpersonal skills.
Participants developed an awareness of how councils and organisations function, enabling them to build working relationships.
Program participants were equipped to provide peer interview services, capturing, and conveying young people’s views to inform policy and program decisions.

Being part of this was everything that I was promised, everything that was said would happen, has….and it was just fun.”
We Hear YOUth participant during evaluation focus group discussion.

“I also realised I love research even more….Now I am considering consultancy and advisory for young people – young engagement and research with/for young people.”
We Hear YOUth Participant during evaluation focus group discussion.

Success Factors

A participatory model that centres on youth input, youth direction, and collaboration with like-minded organisations.

Thorne Harbour, Victoria University, and YLab partnership is strengthened by cross-organisational collaboration and a dedicated Steering Committee.

The tailored peer interviewing model encompassed technical skill development and building upon young people’s capabilities for peer advocacy and leadership

Giving young people ownership of projects so they can take them in a direction that makes the most sense and benefits them.

There was emphasis on recognising and managing power dynamics, encouraging participants to consider their position in society and how they can help others express themselves.

Fully funded training eliminates cost barriers for young people with lived experience of disadvantage.

Lessons Learned

Impacts of COVID-19: Because of COVID, various aspects of project delivery had to shift from face-to-face to online this limited some participants ability in certain areas to engage with the course material and activities, predominantly due insufficient internet quliaty.
Lack of diversity: Only a small number of participants were able to commit to the time requirements of the, which meant limited diversity amongst the participants. Most who dropped out from the project were under the age of 20 – many were unable to balance their schooling alongside the project’s intense course load. Online recruitment strategies and materials may have also impacted the recruitment and retention of young people from diverse backgrounds.
Short timeline: The project had a strict one-year timeline to accomplish its objectives, which led to heavy workloads for participants, prompting some to drop out of the program. This also resulted in a limitation in establishing strong partnerships with organisations before the project began, which in turn impacted the smoothness of design and delivery.
Intensive Courses: Although the delivered courses were seen as excellent, its intensive nature and limited hands-on practical activities affected how well participants consolidated learning and new skills.
Limited Implementation Funding: Although the program was successful, funding was limited to the training of peer interviewers, with no additional funding granted to coordinate and support the young people’s role as peer interviews. This meant the program had to drive the coordination and support themselves.

The Evaluation

Thorne Harbour Health engaged the Outcomes, Practice and Evidence Network (OPEN) through the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare to evaluate the effectiveness of their program and identify areas for improvement. The evaluation was carried out using a mixed-methods approach, with data being collected throughout the delivery and after the training course. Data was collected from multiple sources, including project documentation review, interviews and surveys with youth participants, and reflection logs from the steering committee and project workers. The evaluation thematically analysed the data and took a developmental approach appropriate for the We Hear YOUth Project’s innovative and interactive nature. Internal data collection and evaluation support occurred throughout the project to inform adjustments to the model during implementation, along with an emphasis on capturing success factors and learning to inform the next steps.

We Hear Youth Evaluation

The Future

Four graduates from the We Hear YOUth project have formed a youth advocacy group called “Active Youth Voice” (AYV). They are still working with the City of Greater Bendigo and Campaspe Shire Council to implement the peer interviewing skills they developed throughout the program. Additionally, the AYV group participated in a further interviewing study that provided another practical task which helped consolidate their skills. Thorne Harbour Country is still committed to connecting original participants to supporting organisations and paid placements. This continuing support has enabled the young people from We Hear YOUth to continue developing their skills as youth leaders in the advocacy and youth participation space.

References
1. Royal-Commission-into-Mental-Health-TOR-Jan2019.docx [Internet]. [cited 2024 Mar 12]. Available from: Youth Affairs Council Victoria | Resources (yacvic.org.au)

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OPEN Case Study: We Hear YOUth – Amplifying young people’s voices in decision making.