There are a lot of young people who fall under the radar of traditional non-profit programs: those who lack education, confidence, or opportunities. Those are the young people that the
OIYP targets, says Anna Powell, the OIYP Youth Programs Manager. We interviewed her to find out how her organisation delivers services in diverse and remote locations with limited technical resources.
What are the goals of the OIYP program?
The program is made up of young people, (Action Partners), who work on projects of their own choosing to bring about social change, whether it’s within their local community or further abroad. They are recruited in three-year cycles and given support and skill-building opportunities. Young people participating are also mentored by past Action Partners who share their experience, advice and inspiration. We find this approach–where young people are given support by past participants in the program more effective than a top-down approach from the organisation.
The ultimate goal of the project is to help Action Partners enact sustainable social change within communities.
Check out some of the Action Partners’ projects here.
What positions do young people hold in the program?
We have involved over 1100 young people in the program so far, mostly in the southern hemisphere. There are currently 300 Action Partners whose projects are supported by other young people and by past Action Partners. We also have young people in our Sydney office who volunteer 4 days a week and are largely involved in supporting and mentoring the Action Partners and heavily involved in the projects. Every 3 years we have a big meet in Australia where lots of young Australians volunteer to host Action Partners or otherwise help to bring it all together.
How do you find young people in remote communities to take part?
We work through existing grassroots networks, partner organisations and past Action Partners to identify where the need really is. We’re looking for those who will get the most out of it. We prefer young people who aren’t necessarily “born leaders” and who perhaps have never been to a conference before. The Action Partners themselves become the champions of the program. We work and recruit a lot of the time through word of mouth.
What difficulties do you face in delivering services to remote communities?
The amount of young people in marginalised communities is disproportionately high, and the majority of indigenous people are young people, so these groups can be difficult to contact. Remote contact can be difficult. Online technology is what keeps the wheels turning, but we can’t be reliant on it because only 30 per cent of our Action Partners have good internet access.
Some Action Partners could really benefit from better internet access, especially those engaged in campaigning and advocacy who would like to use online platforms. Mostly the problem is a lack of access to information and sometimes a sense of isolation. When everyone else is on
Facebook, they can end up feeling like they’re hitting their heads against a brick wall.
Mobile phones are not as prolific in the Pacific as they are in some African and South East Asian countries, and we have found that
SMS communication really didn’t work because it was too costly for young people. While we try and use technology where we can, for our kind of work it is important to have some face-to-face engagement.
What makes the program successful?
The diversity of our network allows people to influence and meet people who they otherwise would never have met. We work on personal support and self development for our Action Partners, focusing on the person rather than on the project.
The three year cycle is also important in keeping the program alive in marginalised communities because past Action Partners open doors for new Action Partners and help them with networking.
What advice would you give to other organisations who were attempting to bring young people together over great distances?
It rarely works if the engagement activities are co-dependent–if they’re all trying to work on the same project. Let people identify their own individual project and work on it themselves. It’s important that the project idea is not forced; people work better and get more out of it if it is their own idea. People need space within the project to explore and to be creative.
It’s also important for young people to connect and really get to know each other. There needs to be cultural understanding and respect of differences when working with different groups of young people. It’s very important that they have a supportive group abroad, but ultimately, for the project and the program to succeed, they need local support too.
