The Ausyouth Project, Youth Development

Ausyouth was a project which was established to provide a range of services to promote, coordinate and facilitate youth development as an approach and practice across Australia. The project was funded by the Commonwealth Minister for Youth Affairs and contracted through the Department of Family and Community Services.

Ausyouth was not a ‘youth program’, nor did it sponsor or conduct youth initiatives. Its role was to bring together, work with and assist collaborative interaction between governments and public and private sector organisations with a common interest in consolidating and advancing youth development as a national approach.

Stakeholders in the process included youth program providers, policy–makers, practitioners in the field of youth work, youth affairs networks, government service providers, the business sector, and various other organisations and agencies.

During the two years of its operation Ausyouth was instrumental in promoting positive debate on youth development and promoting awareness of the concept and the benefits that can flow. It produced a solid body of research publications and conducted several successful forums attended by youth organisations, academics, policy makers and interested members of the public from across Australia.

The Commonwealth Government now believes it is time to build on what it has learned from the successful Ausyouth investment and look for ways to increase support for youth development at the local level.

The Government continues to look for further ways to support and promote youth development, including promoting youth development through forums such as the Australian Forum of Youth Organisations (AFOYO).

The philosophy behind Ausyouth was that youth development provides all young people with experiences and opportunities which enhance their capacity and which affirm them as contributors to the community and shapers of their own future.

Youth development is a concept well advanced in various countries overseas. It is premised on the conviction that the personal growth and advancement of all young people in our society is too important to be left to chance. Youth development concentrates on building the personal strengths that create positive attributes in young people, rather than focusing on deficits – whether real or assumed – which need to be prevented or remedied to enable successful transition to adulthood.

The approach involves youth development as a community issue. Young people are an integral part of our community with a valuable contribution to make. As a community, we must consciously assist young people to reach their potential by providing opportunities which enable them to develop the skills and competencies to support them not only through adolescence, but throughout adult life. This must go beyond giving them a sound educational grounding.

A range of structured opportunities and broader relationships is needed to complement formal educational processes in promoting a healthy lifestyle, developing a sense of personal pride, responsibility and purpose, fostering positive social relationships, and consolidating the position of young people as members of the broader community. The focus is on developing the whole person, and the responsibility is that of the whole community. Both young people and their communities benefit from youth development.