1. What Have Councils Ever Done For Young People? Our Future is NOW Youth Development Conference 12 February 2015 Stuart Boyd Senior Strategy Consultant Adelaide City Council

2.  Context  Strategy development  Social planning  Internal advocacy Overview Our Future is NOW

3.  “  “We live in a decaying age. Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequently inhabit taverns and have no self-control."  6,000-year-old Egyptian tomb  "What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets, inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"  Fourth Century BC Socrates or Plato  "The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint... As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behaviour and dress.“  AD1274, Peter the Hermit Our Future is NOW

4. Local Government Can Be Weird! Our Future is NOW

5. Local Government Strategic Planning Our Future is NOW Strategy: Those decisions that have high medium-term to long-term impact; Focus on activities (doing the right things well) Analysis leading to resourcing and implementing decisions Create value for customers & key stakeholders [Public Value] Adapted from Hubbard, Rice and Beamish – Strategic Management – Thinking Analysis Action “In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement like hell.” Jack Welsh, former CEO General Electric

6. Local Government Role & Principles Our Future is NOW Local Government Act 1999 (SA) (Section 6) include: to provide services and facilities and in a socially just and ecologically sustainable manner; to encourage and develop initiatives for improving the quality of life of the community; and to represent the interests of the community to the wider community. The objectives of Councils (Section 8) include: to participate with other Councils and spheres of Government in policy and planning; to ensure a proper balance within its community between economic, social, environmental and cultural considerations; to ensure equitable access to services, facilities and programs.

7. ‘It’s more than just project management, it’s the understanding of Council’s overall strategy’ Elected member – research focus group Our Future is NOW

8. Local Government Strategic Planning Our Future is NOW

9. Councils’ Role Flowchart Does the Community need it? Planner role – encompassing research and community engagement Yes No Don’t provide it. None – no role for Council Is Council best placed to provide it? Assessed against Council’s own Policy and policy of others Does Council have the resources to provide it? Yes Don’t provide it but work with others to see that it is provided. Coordination, Capacity Building, Regulating, Advocacy or Part Funder role – bring together stakeholders, resolve issues Yes No Provide it. Council as the Owner of the activity Work to gain the extra resources. No No But! May be no-one else < Yes But! Only to develop best model Short Term Owner Work to develop capacity of others – broker Coalition of the Willing < Project Manager or Outsourcing

10. Our Future is NOW Scope of Social Planning! Social Infrastructure Diagram from Planning for Urban Infill, Elton Consulting (2011)

11. 1. Strategy and Policy (Council-wide and Youth specific) 2. Participation of young people 3. Coordination and Capacity Building of Agencies 4. Running Events and Programs Our Future is NOW

12. Extraneous community expectations / media portrayal of young people, etc Policy/strategy Ill-defined, not in place or not implemented Engagement/ participation Strategic Program/event Capacity building/ coordination Events/programs Reactive rather than proactive services Services not targeted to areas of need Ineffective use/waste of resources Not all relevant stakeholders involved Poor outputs and outcomes Lack of long term viability Council Strategic Management Plan Strategy - Many Councils do this Our Future is NOW

13. Engagement/ participation Capacity building/ coordination Events/ programs Strategy Policy Extraneous community expectations / media portrayal of young people, etc Clear outcome measures Clear output measures Council Strategic Management Plan A Better Way? Our Future is NOW

14. “Relate to and Understand Young People” Key to engaging young people in the business of Council Our Future is NOW

15.  Youth Officers may face differing, and sometimes competing, expectations from ◦ Line Manager ◦ Council Executive ◦ Elected members ◦ Young People and ◦ The General Community  Highlights need for clear policy/strategy Our Future is NOW

16. Youth Officers Community Managers General Managers Elected Members Motivation Externally focussed More internally focussed Externally focussed Social Justice vs Social Inclusion Social JusticeSocial Inclusion Most important skill/knowledge Ability to understand and relate to young people How do you know a Youth Officer is doing a ‘good job’? Outcomes – ‘making a difference’ Outputs – collect these numbers because they are expected. Outcomes – capacity building of young people and the sector Outputs – are expected to collect these numbers Outcomes - capacity building, sustainability, broader impact Outputs- numbers are important for justification of work, budgets, etc Outcomes most important; community capacity building and young people’s citizenship.

17.  Involvement in Council’s activities – including Strategic Planning  Directly involved and/or running youth events /activities  Models of gaining participation need to be targeted  Young people working alongside other community members Our Future is NOW

18. Operational: projects/progra ms Broad consultation/participation on specific projects and events Young People on Community Reference Group S41 Youth Advisory Committee ------------------------- Youth Advisory Committee Young Person Elected member Civic leadership Better decision making Long-term change / strategic Other Civic Participation Youth Participation Our Future is NOW

19. What have Councils ever done WITH young people? Our Future is NOW What Have Councils Ever For Done For Young People?