10 top tips for engaging with young people
The Right Way participation hub is full of resources for decision-makers and those working in policy to develop the meaningful participation of young people in their work.
Here are 10 top tips from young people to ensure your participation is meaningful. Please use these alongside the AIM The Right Way checklists.
This is not an exhaustive list, and you will build good working relationships with the young people you’re engaging with through regular and open discussions about working practices and how they suit those young people’s specific needs.
For more detailed information on a range of projects with young people where their right to have their views listened to and taken into consideration (UNCRC Article 12) see our other resources.
1. Involve young people from the beginning and throughout.
“We were in the project right from the beginning, so we were able to set the agenda.”
2. Make sure the location, time and format are inclusive for the young people taking part. This includes the time of day, whether it’s online or in person, how long it lasts and the style of facilitation.
“They arranged a meeting with me and made it during school time. My school can be supportive and would have let me go, but I didn’t want to miss out on things we needed to learn for exams and stuff”
3. Tell young people what the aim of the engagement is, and how sharing their views will lead to change.
“Adults acknowledging what they don’t know, or straight up saying “we don’t have power to make changes beyond this because that’s out-with our remit” That humanises them, plus avoids disappointment, it doesn’t create unrealistic expectations.”
4. Treat young people as equals and address power imbalances.
“From the beginning, we were very much treated as equals. The adults that we work with, there’s no dynamic that they make the decisions, or they set the agenda, we learn from each other which is really good.”
5. Ensure all resources and papers are youth-friendly making content accessible, clear, an appropriate length for a young volunteer to read and digest, and jargon-free whilst still keeping the key information.
“All documents should be young person-friendly and there should be a limited number of acronyms used. Any complex words should be explained to the young people present.”
6. Follow up and feedback – a proper feedback loop is essential to meaningful participation.
“They got back to us about how they incorporated our input. They said that they’d used stuff we said, “we’ve actively used information you gave us to influence our strategy.”
7. Make it engaging and interesting to ensure young people want to be involved.
“As a young person, it should be fun! It seems like a silly point, but setting the tone is so important. We were working on a project and the group were all a bit low energy, so we had a social. That made such a difference. It makes it somewhere that young people want to be!”
8. Consider who isn’t in the room – a young person can’t represent the views of all young people and to make participation inclusive of young people’s views you should consider whose views aren’t involved in the participation process and address that.
“Recognising that the young people you are talking to do not represent the views of all young people. Sometimes we miss the mark in making something that’s as accessible as it needs to be.”
9. Young people are experts in their own experiences and so it is important you ask them what means of engagement works best for them.
“When young people are involved, there’s a lot more heart to it. More passion to it. When you’re a young person, you’re less involved in the ‘politics of politics.’ I look at other young activists, and it’s just raw passion, which is so important, it ends up meaning that you are going to drive that issue home, you’re going to keep routing for it.”
10. Know young people’s rights – the adults working with young people should know and understand young people’s rights consider how their work impacts all young people’s rights, including Article 12 of the UNCRC.
Download the Top Tips in a plain text version here.
