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National News
National Consultation Productivity Commission Inquiry into Mental Health
A reminder that MYAN is holding a national teleconference on the Productivity Commission's Inquiry into the Social and Economic Benefits of Improving Mental Health.
We are preparing a submission to the Inquiry and would like to include views from around Australia on the experiences and social and economic benefits of improving mental health for young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds. We will also be seeking views from young people in a different forum.
When 12:00 - 1:00pm (AEDST), Wednesday 20th March 2019
Where Teleconference +61393403747 or 0385796844
Dial-in details: 03 0340 3747 or 0385796844 (from your mobile or landline)
Conference ID: 97127
RSVP: myanprojects@myan.org.au
FUSE delegates announced
After an overwhelming number of applicants, MYAN is pleased to have selected 40 young emerging leaders from refugee and migrant backgrounds from across Australia to participate in FUSE 2019 in Melbourne. Working with the themes 'Connect', 'Ignite', 'Trailblaze', FUSE is MYAN's 3-day national multicultural youth summit. We congratulate all applicants for their commitment to the application process, and hope all applicants remain connected with us for future opportunities in leadership and advocacy.
As FUSE 2019 draws nearer and nearer, we are extremely excited to spend three days surrounded by emerging young leaders as they practice their skills in leadership, advocacy, networking and changemaking!
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MYAN is Recruiting!
MYAN will be seeking a Policy and Advocacy Officer to lead on our national policy work, with the recruitment process opening next week.
We farewell Derya Koksal and thank her for her dedication and leadership in coordinating MYAN’s policy and advocacy work over the last couple of years. We will miss her eye for detail, collaborative approach and enthusiasm for all things policy!
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National Policy
Jobactive: failing those it is intended to serve
A recent parliamentary report on Jobactive: failing those it is intended to serve has been released. The Inquiry focussed on the appropriateness and effectiveness of the objectives, design, implementation and evaluation of jobactive. This report includes evidence provided by MYAN, with MYAN Youth Ambassador, Narayan Khanal and Andrew Cummings, MYAN's Acting National Coordinator, appearing before the Senate Inquiry into jobactive to speak about the need for targeted and specialised support to get young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds into meaningful employment.
MYAN submission on 'Australia's 2019-2020 Migration Program' Discussion Paper
MYAN recently made a submission to the Department of Home Affairs on Australia's 2019-2020 Migration Program Discussion Paper. This submission provides a national perspective, drawing on the MYAN’s breadth of experience working with young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, their communities and the youth and settlement sectors across Australia. It has a focus on the rights and interests of young people (12 to 24 year olds) from refugee and migrant backgrounds in the Australian Migration and Humanitarian Programs.
The Australian Government is seeking the views of the Australian public on the management and composition of the Humanitarian Program. Interested people and organisations are invited to make a written submission to humanitarian.policy@homeaffairs.gov.au by 18 March 2019 or contact nadine@myan.org.au to make a contribution to MYAN's submission.
Final Report on Monitoring the Impact of Australian Government School Funding
The final report on The Impact of Australian Government School Funding has recently been released. MYAN made a submission to the inquiry highlighting the need for the implementation of ‘nationally consistent accountability mechanisms’ to ensure that schools allocate ‘adequate funding’ to vulnerable and disadvantaged students.
National Youth Commission into Youth Employment and Transitions
Public Hearings
The National Youth Commission (NYC) has announced the first round of public hearings into Youth Employment and Transitions. Hearings commenced 5th March 2019 and will be moving around regional and rural Victoria before heading to the other states. For more information and to register your interest in a public hearing, contact info@nycinquiry.org.au.
The National Youth Commission (NYC) is an independent, non-partisan community inquiry into the challenges faced by young people preparing for and seeking work now and into the future. It draws together the expertise and lived experience of diverse young people across the country, along with ideas from experts and the broader public, to create solutions to overcome these challenges.
Discussion Paper
The NYC recently released a discussion paper on youth employment and transitions, Positions Vacant? Youth Employment in Australia exploring the relationships between systems needed to support young people to make a successful school to work transition.
Evaluation of the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) new business model (NBM)
MYAN has been invited to make a submission to the Evaluation of the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) new business model (NBM).
The Commonwealth Department of Education and Training commissioned Social Compass in December 2018 to conduct an evaluation of the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) new business model (NBM). Social Compass is an independent company which provides robust social research and evaluation to organisations across the government, corporate and community sectors.
The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the extent to which the new business model (NBM) is achieving its objective of improved outcomes for AMEP clients. It will achieve this aim by measuring the appropriateness, effectiveness and practicality of the AMEP NBM introduced in July 2017. The findings of this evaluation will be used to improve the program.
Contact nadine@myan.org.au if you would like to contribute your views.
COAG endorses National Principles for Child Safe Organisations
MYAN welcomes the endorsement by the Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG) of The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. MYAN participated in the Consumer Advocacy Advisory Group (CAAG), set up to inform the design of the principles and its associated tools and resources.
The National Principles are "a national benchmark for organisations working with children and young people across sectors and the country to develop and maintain a child safe culture" - National Children's Commissioner, Megan Mitchell.
The Australian Human Rights Commission's website provides practical tools and resources, including an Introductory self-assessment tool for organisations, a Charter of Commitment to children and young people template and Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy template.
Find these useful resources and learn more about child safe organisations here.
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News from young leaders
MyQ Youth Council informing youth mental health
MyQ Youth Council members Joseph Kolapudi, Rinkimi Bithang, Mu Shwe, Grace Akari and Ammarah Seedat attended the Brisbane South PHN Youth Health Forum to join researchers, NGOs and service providers discussing new approaches of intervention and preventative measures to tackle issues like mental health, eating disorders, sexual health, alcohol and drug addiction as well as nutrition and physical health and LGBTQIA dysphoria. This was an important forum to hear directly from young people about what matters to them in health service delivery.
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MyQ Youth Council members, Joseph Kolapudi, Rinkimi Bithang, Mu Shwe, Grace Akari and Ammarah Seedat
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News from States and Territories
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MYAN NSW Young Humanitarians Conference
The Young Humanitarians Project, a collaboration between Multicultural Youth Affairs Network (MYAN NSW), Australian Red Cross, STARTTS Youth Team & NSW State Emergency Service, recently held a Young Humanitarians Conference for over 200 culturally diverse young people, supporting and inspiring them to create positive change through local action in their communities in a time of global upheaval and crisis. The two-day event included presentations, workshops, a Decision Maker's Panel featuring Jihad Dib MP, Jenny Leong MP & CEO of Multicultural NSW Joseph La Posta, performances and fun.
The event was a hit with the young delegates, one of whom reflected, "Throughout this great experience I've learned to become more confident, believe in myself and stop doubting my decisions. Thanks so much for this amazing opportunity."
Demonstrating the positive impact that opportunities such as these can have on young people, another delegate told MYAN NSW, "I plan to be a role model & encourage others to be confident and stand up against the negative."
You can stream live panel discussions from the Conference here.
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Delegates of the Young Humanitarians Conference with Isaiah Dawe and Aunty Rhonda
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In the Media
Youth-led regional projects Trailblaze to Heywire Summit
Outstanding youth-led projects and programs have had the opportunity through ABC Trailblazers to develop their ideas at the Heywire Summit in Canberra before presenting them to members of parliament, senators and community leaders at Parliament House. Among the chosen groups was Students Against Racism, which provides mentoring and training for students from refugee and migrant backgrounds to deliver anti-racism programs and training to schools, public service groups and local government across Tasmania.
Congratulations to all Trailblazers for the positive impact these projects are having in local communities. Read more here.
White Fragility: How can we engage more constructively across race?
In November 2018, Dr Robin DiAngelo, a world-renowned anti-racism educator, led a three-day workshop, It’s up to us all talk about racism, so why is it so hard? presented by The Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) in partnership with The Wheeler Centre, and The Multicultural Centre for Women's Health (MCWH).
In her broad body of work, DiAngelo explores the concept of white fragility, opportunities to address and eliminate racism in our organisations and institutions and discusses how we can all engage more constructively in conversations about race.
During her time in Australia, DiAngelo also spoke at Sydney Ideas, the University of Sydney's public events program. You can listen to this presentation, White Fragility: How can we engage more constructively across race? here.
If you are interested in exploring some of Dr DiAngelo's work, you can access her articles on White Fragility here and White Fragility and the Rules of Engagement here.
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Youth Participation: A Framework to Inform Action
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Re-conceptualising youth participation: A framework to inform action is a new research paper by Professor Helen Cahill and Babak Dadvand of the Youth Research Centre, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. The 7P Model highlights the importance of purpose, positioning, perspective, power relations, protection, place and process in relation to youth participation in programs. The above clip depicts Professor Helen Cahill discussing the 7P Model.
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Opportunities
Applications for UNICEF Australia Young Ambassador 2019-20 are now open!
The UNICEF Australia Young Ambassador Program is a unique and exciting role which provides young people aged 15-24 from across Australia with a platform to speak up for children’s rights. As a Young Ambassador, you will have the opportunity to exercise leadership and to develop some new skills in media & communications, government advocacy, and engaging with children and young people. This role aims to build your capacity to be advocates for children’s rights at a local, national and international level. Apply here.
National Youth Homelessness Conference 2019 - last chance for tickets
The National Youth Homelessness Conference 2019, organised by Youth Development Australia, will be the first national homelessness conference focused on youth in Australia in 20 years. This conference will look at what has or hasn’t happened to address youth homelessness in the past 10 years, what the sector have learnt works, what reforms are required and the development of an agenda that can be advocated to Governments. Tickets close Friday 15th March.
In My Own Words
In My Own Words is a storytelling and capacity building program designed to give young creatives of refugee backgrounds the skills they need to shape their story and let it be heard around the nation. Workshops will be running on 4 April, 10 April and 4 &5 May in Melbourne.
For more information, to apply for the program, or become a partner, click here.
Free and Equal in Dignity and Rights: A national conversation on human rights
Australian Human Rights Commission announced a new major project: ‘Free and Equal in Dignity and Rights: A national conversation on human rights’. The national conversation will ask the community: What makes an effective system of human rights protection for 21st century Australia?
More information on the summit will be made available soon. Visit AHRC's website to stay updated.
Earth Hour
Earth Hour is at 8.30 pm on Saturday the 30th of March. Register here and help make a difference against climate change.
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Drawing on data from the first census of Australia’s migrant youth, the Multicultural Youth Australia Census 2017, Mobile Belonging and Migrant Youth in Australia authored by Dr Rimi Khan, Professor Johanna Wyn and Dr Babak Dadvand, affirms the need for broadening official definitions of cultural and ethnic identification, looking at provisional and material practices of belonging among migrant youth in Australia.
Between insecurity and hope. Reflections on youth work with young refugees is a Youth Knowledge book presenting theoretical references and reflections on the experiences of young refugees and the way they reconcile personal hope with the tensions within their host societies. It also explores learning from practices and their theoretical underpinnings concerning the role of youth work in a cross-sectoral approach. This book aims to be a reference for policy makers, practitioners and researchers in the youth field and stakeholders from other sectors working on inclusion, access to rights and the participation of young refugees.
Mission Australia has released a sub-report on Gender Gaps: Findings from the Youth Survey Report 2018 results and infographic of findings. Over 28,000 young people aged 15-19 years responded to Mission Australia’s Youth Survey 2018. This report analyses the data according to gender, and draws out key differences between females and males on issues such as mental health, housing, safety and community.
Voices of Youth (VOY) is a global community for young people to learn about development issues and to express their opinions. Voices of Youth seeks to create a space that will help young people develop into active global citizens equipped to communicate and collaborate effectively to make a positive difference in their countries and communities.
Cultural Infusion is a platform providing resources, information about training opportunities and programs for schools and school aged children from diverse backgrounds.
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A report by the Foundation House titled School is where you need to be equal and learn, provides insights of students of refugee backgrounds on the barriers and facilitators to learning and engagement at school, and ‘what works’ to support them at school.
Dr Michael Ungar of the The Resilience Research Centre - Canada recently presented on Young people and resilience at the Deakin Institute. The Resilience Research Centre has published free templates for developing programs and checklists, including What Works: A Manual for Designing Programs that Build Resilience, as well as the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-R) framework for research and evaluation purposes.
Release 7 of Growing up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), has just been made available through the new online access arrangements via the Australian Data Archive Dataverse platform. For the first time, data from the Child Health CheckPoint is included with the release. To apply for access to NCLD longitudinal data, register on the NCLD Dataverse site, then read and follow the instructions in the National Centre for Longitudinal Data Access and Use Guidelines.
The Migration Council of Australia have recently released The Australian Employers’ Guide to Hiring Refugees. This guide was a collaboration between the Tent Partnership for Refugees and the Friendly Nation Initiative, and serves a a practical toolkit intended to help employers who are interested in hiring refugees but don’t know where to start.
LGBTIQIntersect is an online resource created to support culturally diverse LGBTIQ-inclusive services within an intersectional approach. In creating this resource, we aim to support the visibility, safety, mental health and wellbeing, social inclusion and sense of belonging amongst LGBTIQ people from multicultural, spiritual and faith based communities.
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