2.1 Being meaningful

2.1

Being meaningful

Like any area of youth information services, when it comes to youth participation in youth information, doing things in a quality way is always important. We refer to youth participation as “meaningful” when the activities engage with young people in a high quality and effective manner.

This chapter explores what is required to support youth participation activities in a meaningful way and what this means in practice for youth information services. No matter what models and formats of youth participation are used, the topics discussed in this chapter will be relevant to all of them. The same set of guiding principles can be applied to all youth participation activities.

Principles for Youth Participation

To ensure that it is meaningful and of good quality, youth participation in youth information services should be:

Transparent and informative

Young people must be provided with full, accessible, diversity-sensitive and age-appropriate information about their rights to participate in youth information services, how their participation can take place, its scope, purpose and potential impact.

Accountable

Young people should be provided with clear feedback on how their youth participation has led to any change. Young people must be informed as to how their views have been interpreted and used and, where necessary, provided with the opportunity to challenge and influence the results.

Relevant

The youth information topics which young people are giving their view upon must be of real relevance to their lives and enable them to draw on their knowledge, skills and abilities. Space should be created to enable the young people to highlight and address the issues they themselves identify as relevant and important.

Respectful

Young people’s views should be treated with respect and they should be provided with opportunities to initiate ideas and activities themselves.

Safe and sensitive to risk

Activities relating to youth participation in youth information should be safe and keep young people safe from harm. Young people-friendly

Environments and working methods should be adapted to young people’s capacities and abilities. Enough time and resources should be made available to ensure the young people are adequately supported and prepared to have the confidence and opportunity to participate. Young people will need differing levels of support and forms of involvement according to evolving capacities and competences.

Inclusive

Youth participation in youth information must be inclusive and avoid replicating existing patterns of discrimination. It should encourage opportunities for marginalised young people to be involved. Young people are not a homogenous group and youth participation in youth information needs to provide for equality of opportunity for all, without discrimination on any grounds.

Supported by training

Youth information workers and youth information services need preparation, skills and resources to facilitate youth participation in youth information effectively. Young people also need access to training to help them take on leadership roles.

Voluntary

Youth participation should be done on a voluntary basis based on the commitments and interests of young people involved.