YERP (Youth Engagement Resource Platform) is a home for all things youth participation (youth leadership and actively involving young people in decision-making processes) and much more! YERP resources range from written articles to videos, photos and infographics that empower young people to make change and support anyone working with young people to develop their practice.
The upgrade is live as of 2024, thanks to substantive funding from Victorian Government's Office for Youth and in partnership with various organisations including the Victorian Electoral Commission, Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action, and VicHealth.
If you have feedback on any of the material on YERP or would like to discuss supporting new content please email YERP@YACVic.org.au.
Finnley
Are you a young person living in Victoria looking to make change in your community?
Or maybe you're a youth worker, looking to strengthen your practice with young people.
Well look no further, let me introduce you to YERP, YERP stands for the Youth Engagement Resource Platform.
Created by an awesome group of young people and youth workers for young people and youth workers. And it is your go-to place for all things youth participation, engaging young people meaningfully, getting involved in advocacy and your community.
There are heaps of different resources on YERP from awesome researched written articles to videos created by young people to cute little photos and infographics, handy checklists Q&As and more!
It's really easy to navigate with clear topics and subheadings that point you towards the youth worker and volunteer section or the young people section.
YERP was originally created in 2014and was revamped in 2024.
There is an ‘about’ section on YERP where you can find out more about our history.
Mila
I was thinking about all the things that would have helped me on my participation journey, a resource like YERP would have really been the key.
It has all the information that you need to get started and just being a part of creating that was such a pleasure.
I think for me I definitely wanted to prioritize accessibility.
I wanted people to be able to engage with it however they felt comfortable and so when we were discussing the things that we wanted on the website we were really talking about how would we consume the information when we were going through it?
We were talking about how we want dot points, which are on there, we would want videos, which you're watching now.
I'm proud of the people that I got to work with.
I'm proud of the fact that it reflects the discussions we had.
And I'm proud of the fact that young people were really at the helm of the whole project.
YERP is so cool 'cause it's all online so like you can access it anytime day or night and it's all free to access which is really useful for young people like me who might not have much money to do like their own training stuff.
Having it on your phone is also really helpful for like those really awkward conversations where you're trying to advocate for something and you're like, just so you know, YERP has said blah blah blah.
Exaucee
YERP is important for young youth workers like me because it gives us the knowledge to support young people with matters they care about and it's youth friendly.
Kurin
So, as a youth worker who's also a young person starting in my career can be really quite intimidating but YERP makes it feel so much less scary for me.
Exaucee
Even though I'm just starting out YERP has given me confidence and I feel like I'm ready to go.
Heather
YERP brings together the expertise of the Victorian youth sector with Victorian young people who have co-designed this fantastic resource that can effectively just be picked up and used as a manual for anyone who is working with young people and if they follow the guide and use the resources within it they're going to create something with young people in their local community that is meaningful and that really matters.
Kelsey
The Victorian Electoral Commission has put out a passport to democracy resource which is really really helpful especially for people who are just starting to vote or who are going to be learning how to vote soon.
Heather
All the materials on child safety is really useful because we know that anyone across Victoria who is working with anyone who's under the age of 18needs to uphold the Child Safe Standards.
Kurin
The section and resources about disasters. Climate change is a really important issue to young people particularly rural young folk like myself having information to actually involve young people in disaster resilience making evacuation centres more youth friendly and just general information about disasters is just such an incredibly useful and topical bit of resources to have.
Heather
Wherever young people are YERP can be useful.
Finn
YERP is a fantastic resource for anyone working with young people and for young people themselves.
You can check it out at our website yerp.org au/yerp
[Music]
Hear from the passionate folks who created YERP about what it is, the process of creation and why they think it's so useful for young people, youth workers and anyone working with young people!
YERP was first created in 2013 as a dedicated information hub for young Victorians and the Victorian People and organisations who work with young people.youth sector.
In 2022, almost a decade after its first launch, Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic) received funding from the Victorian Government’s Office for Youth to update the site to ensure its ongoing relevance and value.
We’re proud to say that YERP has been upgraded in consultation with over 200 younger and older people across Victoria with a focus on youth participation, engagement and empowerment. This included a Steering Committee of both young people and youth sector representatives who guided this project, and a group of 10 young co-designers who helped to create the scope, look and feel of the site.
An infographic of the history of YERP.
Heading reads: A brief history of YERP
First box reads: 2013 - A website is developed dedicated to youth participation and engagement. There is a circle icon to the right
Second box reads: 2022 - Office for Youth announced funding to update YERP. There is an megaphone icon with the words 'update' coming out of it to the left
Third box reads: 2023/24 - YACVic project team along with co-designers and steering committee members updated YERP. There is an icon with different sized boxes stacked on top of each other to the right.
Fourth box reads: 2024 - New YERP website is launched in September 2024. There is an icon with circles joined together to the left.
Along the bottom are icons. The far left is of two hands shaking. Below the text reads: 10 Co-designers. The middle icon is of three people talking. Below the text reads: 15 Steering Committee Members. The far right icon is of lots of people in a group. Below the text reads: 200 people consulted
Our young co-designers contributed to the design, focus and content of the newly upgraded site. A big thank you to Anjali, Emily, Jacob, Jess, Kano, Lauri, Matthew, Mila, Pra, Vera and Zodie!
External contributors
- Amaze
- Arts Access Victoria
- Australian Catholic University
- Beyond The Bell
- Centre for Multicultural Youth
- Commission for Children and Young People
- Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
- Indigo Shire Council
- Koorie Heritage Trust
- Koorie Youth Council
- Keeping Kids Central
- Office for Youth
- Project Rockit
- The Y
- Victorian Electoral Commission
- Western Bulldogs Community Foundation
- Whitelion / Kids First
- YACVic Rural
- Youth Disability Advocacy Service
- YLab