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National News
MYAN in Geneva, Switzerland
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L-R: N Nadine Liddy (MYAN) Australia, Omran Musa (UN MGCY HA MENA) Safia Ibrahimkhel (UNHCR GYAC) Apajok Biar (MYAN Australia) Mohammad Ahmao (UNFPA) Amie Wells (Mercy Corps)
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Nadine Liddy, MYAN National Coordinator recently represented MYAN at the annual meeting of the Compact on Young People in Humanitarian Action, UNHCR's Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement (ATCR) and UNHCR's NGO Consultations in Geneva, Switzerland. MYAN worked with Mercy Corps to organise a panel of young people from around the world to share their perspectives on youth leadership at the annual Compact meeting and was delighted to have Apajok Biar from Australia join the panel as moderator. Nadine also had the opportunity to share MYAN's capacity building work in youth leadership and advocacy and learn about work from others in this area at the Compact deep dive technical side session hosted by UNHCR. At the ATCR, Nadine presented on the resettlement of children and young people at risk, including sharing Australia's approach to youth settlement and integration.
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We want to hear from you!
National Youth Settlement Framework survey
It's now almost 3 years since MYAN released the National Youth Settlement Framework (NYSF) - Australia's first national framework to support and benchmark good practice in youth settlement. Since its release in 2016, over 1000 people have participated in NYSF training, webinars and workshops across Australia.
3 years on and MYAN is updating elements of the NYSF in order to ensure its currency and relevance, with the plan to release this revised version in September 2019. The revised version has been informed by valuable feedback from our state and territory partners, training participants and those of you who have been using the Framework in your work with young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
But….we’d like to hear from the sector once again as we know that many of you will have current feedback. We are also seeking specific examples of how organisations have applied the Framework in practice. This will ensure that the NYSF continues to enable services to respond more effectively to the settlement needs of young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete and can be found here.
If you have any queries about the survey, please contact Shannon White, MYAN's Policy and Advocacy Officer at shannon@myan.org.au
Please note that the survey will close 8th August, 2019 5.00 pm AET
CMY Submission to the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health Service System
CMY recently undertook a review of CMY’s previous policy work around issues of mental health and young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds, and broader literature, to make a joint submission with MYAN (Australia) to the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into the Social and Economic Benefits of Improving Mental Health focused on the needs and interests of young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds. This submission is informed by this work. This submission is also informed by consultations with:
• Young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds around mental health, including young people involved in CMY’s Youth Advisory Group and in CMY’s Shout Out Mental Health initiative (this is a youth leadership public speaking bureau);
• CMY staff (many of whom are bi-cultural workers) who work directly with young people and their families and communities;
• Service representatives involved in the Victorian Settlement Youth Network.
The submission can be found here: CMY Submission to the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health Service System
English Language Acquisition
MYAN is pleased to share a new paper developed through the Youth Transitions Support Services (YTS) Community of Practice. This paper highlights the perspectives of YTS providers and draws on MYAN’s policy work to provide an overview of recent research, policy and programming into the acquisition of English language skills in Australia by recently arrived young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds. It provides an overview of gaps/barriers and strategies for strengthening young people’s English language acquisition identified by YTS providers.
The paper can be found here: YTS English Language Acquisition Paper
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Launch of FUSE Report
MYAN is excited to release a report on FUSE 2019. This year, FUSE once again delivered as a transformative 3-days leadership event – Australia’s only only national multicultural youth leadership summit. The Report highlights its panel sessions, workshops and the key recommendations of the final pitches to decision makers.
The Report can be found here: FUSE 2019 Report
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News from Young Leaders
DSS Refugee Week event
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L-R: Deputy Secretary, Liz Hefren-Webb Guest speakers: Ms Shabnam Safa (MYAN and Centre for Multicultural Youth) Ms Jamila Ahmadi (Settlement Council of Australia) and Ms Asma Mirzae (Graduate at DSS) Ms Teena Blewitt, (Group Manager, Settlement Services) and Ms Nadine Liddy (National Coordinator, Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network)
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Shabnam Safa, representing CMY and MYAN, shared her reflections as a young Afghan women on the settlement journey in Australia at a DSS-hosted panel event in Canberra during Refugee Week, celebrating the theme 'A world of stories'. Shabnam was joined by Jamila Ahmadi and Asma Mirzae who together highlighted their aspirations and particular challenges as young women, their expectations of themselves, their communities and broader society and some of the opportunities they initiated and accessed to support their positive settlement journey. The event was extremely well attended by those based in Canberra, as well as other states. Thanks to DSS for hosting this important event and promoting the voices of young women from refugee backgrounds.
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Children, Migration and the Right to Health
MYAN NSW Youth Ambassador Elie Butoto and MYAN National Coordinator, Nadine Liddy were delighted to co-present at last week’s Children, Migration and the Right to Health conference at the University of Sydney. Nadine gave an overview of MYAN’s work in youth leadership capacity building for young people from refugee, asylum seeking and migrant backgrounds and the importance of youth participation approaches in this work. She also highlighted youth leadership and advocacy important tools for building young people’s social capital and agency and facilitating successful settlement. Elie shared his reflections as a young leader participating in a range of leadership development programs, including MYAN Australia’s national multicultural youth leadership summit, FUSE 2019. Elie spoke about the importance of safe spaces, learning from role models ‘who look like us’ and building young people’s skills, confidence and networks as critical elements of building young people’s leadership and advocacy capability. He also highlighted the importance of tackling negative stereotypes and valuing young people as important actors in creating change in their communities.
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L-R: Nadine Liddy (MYAN Australia), Elie Butoto (MYAN NSW), Sandy Sandhya Jackson (University of Sydney), Arif Hussein (Human Rights Law Centre), Natasha Blocher (ASRC), Daniel Ghezelbash (Macquarie Law School)
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Opportunities
Orygen My Health Record Project
Are you between 14 and 17 years old? Orygen would like to hear from you in a short online survey on your views on My Health Record! You will go into the draw to win one of ten $50 flexible gift vouchers. My Health Record is a digital platform that stores your health information. MYAN is collaborating with Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health to create some resources for young people about My Health Record. These surveys will help us learn about what you already know, what you would like to know, and how you would like to get that information. Find out more here.
Myer Innovation Fellowship
The Myer Innovation Fellowship program seeks exceptional leaders across all sectors (private, public and non-profit) and from all types of professional backgrounds. We are looking for the powerful combination of the break-through idea and the capacity of the applicant to bring it to fruition. In 2020 three Fellows will each receive $120,000 along with up to $30,000 for operational expenses for their 12 month commitment to the program.
Australia for UNHCR Beddie Scholarship
The Public Education Foundation is calling for applications for their new Australia for UNHCR Beddie Scholarship. This scholarship is for students with a refugee background who intend to study film, television or radio studies at a tertiary level in 2020. Valued at over $72,000, this scholarship covers the full tuition fees at the prestigious Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS), some living expenses, technology and equipment costs, and vocational pathway and internship at 'Australia for UNHCR' for the students. Applications closes 27 August 2019. For more information, please see here.
Youth for Human Rights Summit 2019
This one-day festival will bring together 12-25 year olds from all over Victoria to learn from experts in Human Rights, participate in interactive workshops and experience the ‘stories that matter’ through film, literature, virtual reality and games. The Summit aims to empower the next generation of human rights leaders through education, skills training and providing access to industry mentors and young leaders in the Arts and Human Rights sectors. Find out more here.
Scanlon Foundation Grants – Employment & English Literacy
The Scanlon Foundation’s annual community grants round for 2019 will fund projects that support the transition of migrants into employment or support practical English literacy. Projects should consider the experience of migrants and of receiving communities and aim to nurture positive outcomes. All submissions are also expected to empower new arrival communities and develop cross cultural connections. Find out more here
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Neighbourhood Ethnic Diversity and Mental Health in Australia research links lower levels of trust in multicultural communities to poorer mental health. The study highlights a need for trust-building programs in local communities and is based on 16 years of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. It found higher levels of neighbourhood ethnic diversity were associated with poorer mental health, with lower levels of neighbourhood trust as the key factor linking the two.
The Resilience of Students with an Immigrant Background- Factors that Shape Well-being report provides an in-depth analysis of the risk and protective factors that can undermine or promote the resilience of immigrant students. It explores the role that education systems, schools and teachers can play in helping these students integrate into their communities, overcome adversity, and build their academic, social, emotional and motivational resilience.
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