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Forums examine how to involve young people

A conference exploring the six objectives of South Australia's Strategic Plan and how public servants can involve more young people in meeting the plan’s targets was held last week.

Youth Minister Paul Caica, who opened the Involve Festival of Forums, said the three day event aimed to get agencies thinking about how young people can best be involved in the decision-making process and how they can be positively influenced by the outcomes of those decisions.

The Office for Youth ensured the six sessions were inspiring and informative, attracting local, national and international keynote speakers.

Peter Brown, Executive Director of Fifteen Foundation Australia (founded by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver in the UK), gave a passionate presentation about the strategy used by the Foundation to engage very marginalised young people with a myriad of problems in training, to become apprentice chefs at the high-end restaurant Fifteen in Melbourne.

Other speakers included:

Generation Y expert Dominic Thurbon (NSW), who gave dynamic insights into attracting, retaining and managing young people - around the Strategic Plan objective of Growing Prosperity;

Respected researcher Dr Donna Chung (UK) who analysed violence, the perceptions of young people and their portrayal in the media - around the Strategic Plan objective of Improving Wellbeing;

OzGreen’s Sue Lennox (NSW), winner of the prestigious Banksia Award, discussed how she works with young people on critical social and ecological challenges and building sustainable futures - around the Strategic Plan objective of Attaining Sustainability;

Dr Julian Sefton-Green (UK) reflected upon the Myspace generation and talked about young people as the new media creators - around the Strategic Plan objective of Fostering Creativity;

Jenny Campbell-Shale (Qld) spoke about how she engages young people in decision-making and in the community - around the Strategic Plan objective of Building Communities.