The Office for Youth has a remit to coordinate youth policy across government.
One of the ways we do this work is by coordinating the Youth Action Plan - a policy statement which includes a comprehensive range of priorities for action (commitments) from across government. The Office for Youth has an important role in ensuring that agencies report against their commitments to young people as outlined in the Youth Action Plan.
We also play an important role in assisting other government agencies to consider the needs of young people when developing policy and programs of young people and their communities. We do this by assisting agencies to consult with young people and involve young people in their business.
One of the Office for Youth’s commitments in the Youth Action Plan is the Premier’s Memorandum on Youth Participation. When you become a signatory to the Premier’s memo on youth participation you will have access to a range of tools through the Office for Youth that will help to make involving young people in organisation as easy as possible.
The Office for Youth also supports the development of young people in the public sector through the OfY A Teams. OfY A-Teams bring together young employees from across the public sector to develop holistic responses to some of the challenges facing government. The pilot project (in June 2006) saw a group of young people working with the Adelaide Thinker in Residence, Roseanne Haggarty to address youth homelessness.
The Office also works across government in partnership with other agencies to assist them to consider young people in their policy development and decision making. Partnerships developed this year in the area of policy development include; the Office of Sustainability; the Department of Environment; Child, Youth and Women’s Health Service; Adelaide Thinkers in Residence and DFEEST.
Partnerships are developed to provide other agencies with advice and support on youth affairs. For example, in 2005-06 the Office worked with the South Australian Housing Trust and the Department for Families and Communities Social Inclusion Research and Strategy Unit, to identify barriers preventing young people from securing appropriate accommodation. The Office for Youth also assisted the South Australian Housing Trust to consult with ‘at risk’ young people according to best practice youth consultation principles. The background report and feedback received at the youth consultations will inform the development of a new government youth housing scheme.