News

Youth Participation in Action

As part of a commitment to our grant partners, in 2025, VFFF explored how it might support organisations to improve their youth participation practice.

To begin this process, the Team commissioned YLab to conduct research (including a detailed consultation process with a group of VFFF grant partners), which showed that:

When young people participate meaningfully in the ecosystems that affect them, these ecosystems become more effective
Organisations support the participation of young people in their operations in different ways, and that this is informed by the unique history and contexts of each organisation

A group of people stand in front of a blue paneled wall, smiling and laughing for a group photo

YPP participants and facilitators at the in-person event

Then, in April this year, nine VFFF grant partners were welcomed to our office in Sydney to attend our inaugural Youth Participation Program (YPP) pilot. The event was facilitated by YLab and provided a space for participants to collaborate and dream together about what youth participation could look like in their organisations. The event also gave the VFFF Team and Directors the fantastic opportunity to spend time with a significant number of our grant partners from across our portfolio.

The YPP participants are now working together in small groups to progress their youth participation experiments – tangible pieces of work that are relevant to the context of their organisations.

We look forward to sharing more about the pilot after its conclusion.