OPEN Mini Symposium in Partnership with the YACVic Youth Participation Practice Network (YPPN)

OPEN and YACVic’s Youth Participation Practice Network (YPPN) recently came together for Learning Together for Better Outcomes, an OPEN Mini-Symposium exploring how to meaningfully engage young people while strengthening outcomes, learning and service improvement. Youth participation and evidence-informed practice are most powerful when connected. Participation shows organisations what matters to young people, while evidence and evaluation help determine whether services are responding effectively and improving outcomes. We heard from Lucy Ruchel and Robyn Freestone from Youth Support + Advocacy Service (YSAS), and Mark Rayner from Wombat Housing Support Services, who shared practical examples of participation and evaluation in action. Hear how incremental change is achievable – without assuming organisations need large teams, complex systems or significant new funding to get started.