Background Information:

Voices not heard
Towards the end of the twentieth century, research in the UK into young people's perception of themselves as participants in society revealed a growing sense of alienation and mistrust of professionals, politicians, and adults in general. The message coming across was that young people often felt they were neither heard nor respected, and that they had little influence and control over decisions that affected their lives. This in turn raised political concerns about institutions not being able to command trust, legitimacy and ownership on the part of young people. The result has been a renewed focus on consulting young people and involving them in decisions that affect their lives.

Youth councils and forums
Youth councils and forums are an obvious vehicle for young people's views and actions and are becoming more widespread. However, most tend to be structured to reflect the needs of adult decision makers. Youth councils may be shadows of full councils and take a responsibility for reporting on young people's issues. Some have less direct links and are more informal. Some set up consultation events on single issues, others have regular evenings on specific local issues. These processes can happen in rural areas through a virtual forum on the internet.

Other forms of consultation
While youth councils and forums can offer young people a voice and policy makers insights that wouldn't be captured elsewhere, they often attract the articulate and influential and therefore may not be representative of young people within communities. Young people need to feel comfortable and relaxed with the methods used. A wide range of processes for consulting with young people are now in use:

Surveys and research - postal surveys, opinion polls, customer satisfaction surveys, academic research, young people's own research.

Discussion - seminars, weekend residentials, conferences and workshops, focus groups, question panels, participative appraisal, speakouts.

Media / events - magazine tie-in, talkback on local radio, electronic bulletin boards, video diary / production, photo stories, collages, poetry, drama, mobile outreach campaigns, performance music events, issue based events.

Practical involvement - eg being on interview panels for appointments of people who will have a key role in relation to them.

Voices still not heard
While the ball has been set rolling many feel there is a need to improve the quantity and quality of youth consultation and participation at present considered patchy. There is also criticism of too many one-off consultations, tokenism, and a failure to reach disadvantaged young people. While the evidence base is building there is still a lack of information on what works best in different contexts.

Pointers to success
Key messages from research and evaluation reveal the need both for adult champions of young people and grass-roots activity on the part of young people themselves. The following are also important: recognising differences in time perception between adults and young people; maintaining interest over time; being truly inclusive; increasing competencies of adults in working with young people; and clearly communicating results, follow-up activity and closure.