On 5 November 2025, the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network (MYAN) marked a milestone moment with the official launch of its Youth Engagement Strategy (YES) – a living framework designed by young people, for young people.
Hosted by Fatima Merchant, a member of MYAN’s Youth Advisory Group (YAG), the online launch brought together youth advocates, community leaders, and partners from across Australia to reflect on how we can move beyond consultation to genuine co-leadership.
From MYAN’s National Manager Rana to Youth Ambassador Nayonika, and YAG members Princess, Lena, and Kate, the event was a celebration of shared leadership, intergenerational learning, and the power of listening. The launch of the strategy re-enforced MYAN’s commitment to evidence-based policy and programming that drives authentic advocacy from pillar to post.
So we asked young people, what does a strategy like this mean to them and where to from here?
1. “Nothing for young people, without young people” – The Heart of the Strategy
Opening the launch, Rana, MYAN’s National Manager, reminded the audience of the guiding principle behind the strategy: nothing for young people, without young people.
She proudly explained that this strategy wasn’t just inspired by youth-it was entirely created, designed, and led by them. Every idea, design choice, and direction was the result of collaboration between young people from multicultural, migrant, and refugee backgrounds.
By handing over full creative control, MYAN demonstrated what it truly means to trust young people with leadership. It’s not just about inclusion-it’s about agency. Princess highlighted that it makes a tangible difference in a young person’s confidence and enthusiasm to continue their advocacy efforts when they know they are not just occupying space, but there is an actual change due to their efforts and consistent commitment to show up.
Key Takeaway: Real youth engagement means sharing power and letting young people lead, not just participate.
2. From Tokenism to Trust – Creating Spaces That Feel Real
Nayonika, MYAN’s Youth Ambassador, spoke candidly about the importance of moving from symbolic representation to genuine participation. “Too often,” she reflected, “young people are invited into rooms but not into decision-making.”
At MYAN, she explained, she feels the opposite-never tokenised, always valued. The organisation creates space for “honest, vulnerable, and sometimes difficult conversations” that lead to tangible change. Fatima, the host of the evening shared from her experience that it is critical to remunerate young people for their time, effort and expertise but it is not the only reason young people turn up to support their communities. This remuneration is a token of respect for their effort – especially when they are navigating several expectations in the current cost of living crisis.
This shift from tokenism to trust requires a conscious effort: organisations must move from consulting young people as a formality, to working with them as equals.
Key Takeaway: Inclusion is not a checkbox-it’s a culture built on trust, transparency, and shared accountability.
3. Turning Ideas Into Impact – Youth Advisory Group in Action
For Princess, a YAG member and engineering student, meaningful engagement means seeing real outcomes. She shared her excitement about two key projects the YAG helped deliver:
- a breast cancer screening awareness session for multicultural women, and
- a national youth vaping campaign that translated consultation into tangible, youth-friendly content.
Both projects proved that when young people design initiatives, they bring fresh energy and lived insight-connecting messages to their communities in ways that resonate. Princess highlighted that it is important to remember that young people cannot always come to institutions and organisations – there are several systemic and social barriers and there can be distrust that may prevent them from participating in engagement opportunities. As organisations, we must take the bigger and first step in going to young people where they are and engaging with them meaningfully.
Kate, from MYAN further highlighted that for young people and advisory groups to succeed, you need to invest time, funding and resources into them to help them succeed. You must offer alternative options and suggestions so young people can experiment with different options to achieve the results they want to for their communities.
Fatima, the event moderator candidly added that youth led conversations allow young people to connect with their communities in unique ways and demystify their living experiences.
As Nayonika added, it also helped the group see their communities through new eyes: “We began to recognise the unique ways our families and communities approach health and change. It made our work more human.”
Key Takeaway: When youth lead projects, they bridge knowledge gaps with empathy and cultural understanding.
4. Building Systems That Listen Authentically
When asked how governments and organisations can become more receptive to youth voices, Princess emphasised two things: action and accessibility. “Young people are full of ideas,” she said, “but they need proof that their voices lead somewhere.”.
Her message was echoed by Kate, MYAN’s Community Development Officer, who highlighted how the YAG’s 18-month journey equipped young people with the tools to understand how systems actually work. This dual learning-young people learning the process, and institutions learning from youth experience-is the foundation of the YES strategy.
Nayonika also challenged the notion that diverse demands are difficult to manage:
“Different needs aren’t a burden – they’re a reflection of a rich, layered society. Meeting people where they are isn’t chaotic, it’s respectful.” They further added that when you meet community where they are at, they feel seen and valued and not like a burden who cannot be included in the greater discourse.
Key Takeaway: Listening is not enough-systems must act on youth insight, even when it challenges comfort zones.
5. Sharing Power and Embracing Discomfort – Building Authentic YAGs
The conversation turned to how youth engagement has evolved. Kate noted that the most meaningful change happens when young people are trusted as thought leaders, not simply participants.
Nayonika added that this requires organisations to tolerate uncertainty and imperfection: “You can’t get people wrong-it’s just a different approach. When organisations accept discomfort as part of growth, they make room for true innovation.”.
This perspective highlights a cultural shift in the sector: embracing mistakes, learning from them, and continuing to collaborate openly with young people. Kate highlighted that the most important thing any organisation can really do is walking the talk – honouring and keeping your commitment makes a world of difference. This also means that organisations have to trust the living experience of young people they work with and trust that they will understand through exposure how things work and create ongoing, lasting change.
Princess highlighted that it is critical to be honest and upfront about expectations, what is and is not possible and the scope of their engagement, especially with young people when engaging them in work related to civic engagement. This honesty creates a better relationship between organisations and young people, and does not disenfranchise them by overcommitting and underdelivering.
Key Takeaway: Progress happens when organisations move from control to curiosity-and get comfortable with discomfort.
6. Funding, Fairness, and the Value of Lived Experience
When asked what young advocates need most, the answer was unanimous: sustainable funding.
Nayonika put it simply: “Projects need money. Young people deserve to be paid for their expertise.”. She further highlighted that organisations should work on developing and growing their appetite for risk. In doing so, they are more likely to be open to different approaches and methods of working with young people and their communities in ways that may not have been brought into the main stream pathways.
Short-term or one-off grants, she explained, limit what can be achieved and can lead to burnout for both staff and volunteers. Long-term investment allows for relationship-building, consistent evaluation, and deeper impact.
Princess added that clarity about what young people are being asked to contribute-and how they will be recognised-is equally important to ensure ethical engagement.
Fatima clarified that clearly scoping and mapping out what young people are being asked to do reduces room for friction and misunderstandings.
Key Takeaway: Empowerment without fair compensation is incomplete. Value youth work as professional expertise.
7. Representation, Accessibility, and Meeting People Where They Are
The panel agreed that for engagement to be equitable, accessibility must be non-negotiable.
Lena highlighted the need for inclusive spaces-whether that means language interpreters, digital accessibility, or flexible scheduling for those balancing study, work, and family life.
She shared an example of a recent Pacific youth event that included live translators for the first time-something that made the space instantly more inclusive and representative.
Fatima and others also emphasised partnership as a key tool. Rather than reinventing the wheel, organisations can collaborate with those already embedded in diverse communities to reach more young people effectively. She highlighted that as organisations, we must think about reaching young people who do not traditionally engage with organisations because lost voices are also important voices to capture when doing youth advocacy. She posed the brilliant question – how do we reach out to those who do not and how do we platform these young people to give us their insights?
Key Takeaway: Inclusion starts with accessibility-meeting young people where they are, not expecting them to come to you.
8. Recognising Youth as Experts
The discussion returned repeatedly to the idea that lived experience is a form of expertise.
Young people understand the barriers they face better than anyone else-and that insight is invaluable in policymaking.
As Nayonika put it, “We already have a Minister for Youth at the federal level. The challenge now is embedding youth voices at every level of government and organisational practice.”
Princess highlighted that a critical part of working as a youth advocate is being able to decode the expectations of the sector and learning to understand what the government actually wants from young people, so the scope of engagement does not create mismatched expectations. She further highlighted that government needs to scrutinise its budget and spending to ensure that there is a clear pipeline of funding invested into multicultural communities, so they are authentically engaged.
The group also spoke about partnerships between youth and established experts-pairing lived experience with technical knowledge to achieve balanced, community-driven outcomes.
Key Takeaway: Young people are not future experts-they are experts right now. Their experience is evidence.
9. Incentivising and Sustaining Engagement
When asked what keeps young people engaged, the answers were clear:
- Flexibility in how and when they’re asked to contribute
- Transparency about how their input will be used
- Recognition and payment for their time
- And, most importantly, visible results
“Young people want to see that their voices lead to real change,” said Princess. “When they see progress in their communities, they bring others with them.”
Kate agreed, adding that working “with the chaos” of young people’s busy lives-and providing multiple ways to engage-creates stronger and more sustainable relationships. She emphasised that keeping an open mind and inviting more opportunities in was a great way to increase the surface area for opportunities.
Lena further added that young people bring a breadth of skills – it is important to hone this diversity and to let them thrive for great results. Honouring this diversity allows young people to utilise a range of skills from story telling to policy writing to public speaking to reach a wider and more diverse audience.
Fatima highlighted that it is critical for organisations that are interested in creating change to leverage the connections they have with young people to incorporate more youth perspectives into the work they are doing.
Key Takeaway: Youth will show up when they know their voices matter-and when the process respects their time and reality.
Looking Ahead – A Shared Commitment to the Future
As the event came to a close, one truth stood out: the Youth Engagement Strategy is more than a document. It is a declaration of intent – a promise to continue reshaping how youth, government, and community work together. There is no one size fits all model to engage with young people and to incorporate their voices – so if organisations can keep an open mind and be open to different modes of engaging young people in the work they do; there is a huge opportunity for change and a more inclusive future.
Through YES, MYAN reaffirms that young people from multicultural, migrant, and refugee backgrounds are not just beneficiaries of policy but co-architects of Australia’s shared future.
Final Takeaway: The future of youth engagement isn’t about giving young people a voice – it is about listening, learning, and acting when they use it.