Advocacy

Handbook

YMCA NSW Youth Parliament

Advocacy Handbook

Introduction to Advocacy

What is advocacy?

Advocacy is one of the three values present in all YMCA Youth & Government programs. Advocacy is the act of representing the views of others with the aim to influence and generate conversation about a particular issue or topic. As an advocate, you are responsible for putting forward your views in your local community, at camp, school, and during sitting week at NSW Parliament House. This could involve speaking for or against a specific cause in the House, exercising your vote wisely, or speaking to the media about your Bill or your electorate.

What does it mean to be a good advocate? Advocacy is focused on creating a conversation and awareness about a particular topic. In doing so, the final aim is to generate change and reform in the area that you are advocating for! While it is important to be passionate and influence as best as you can, keep in mind that opinions can (and often will) vary on issues and that each opinion is as valuable as your own. It is the responsibility of an effective advocate to influence others in the most respectful and dignified manner possible. Thus, listening to others advocating for their beliefs is just as important as voicing your own – it is a great opportunity to widen your own passions and understandings.

YMCA Youth & Government Values

Youth-led advocacy Active community

leadership

Legal and parliamentary

education

YMCA NSW Youth Parliament

Advocacy Handbook

Community consultation

This year, your role as a Youth MP will include a new element in advocacy. After your committee has chosen their Bill/ Report topic and this has been approved by the Taskforce, you will be required to engage in community consultation within your electorate. What this means is that you will have to engage with at least one external organisation in your community relevant to your Bill/ Report topic area during the consultation period. This ends on the 1

st of May.

eg. If you are part of the Education Committee and you are doing a Bill on school suspensions, you should go and consult with a school principal or counsellor in your local community about this topic.

When engaging with your external organisation of choice, you will be required to:

Make initial contact with the organisation to introduce yourself, explain that you are a Youth MP representing your local electorate at the YMCA NSW Youth Parliament, what the program involves, and that you would like to make a visit to their organisation and consult with someone about your Bill/ Report topic.

o Use the initial contact form provided below to structure your email.

Once you have been granted permission to make a visit to your organisation of choice, you are required to make contact with them once again to confirm the details of your visit and to acknowledge that they are giving up their time to talk to you.

o Use the pre-visit template to structure your phone call.

When you visit your organisation of choice, make sure you are punctual, dressed in smart casual and have researched your Bill/ Report topic extensively. Have a clear idea of what you want to get out of your visit. Explain clearly what your Bill/ Report topic is to the person you are talking to, and be respectful and listen to their opinions.

o You may either fill out your consultation report during or right after your visit, to ensure that you do not forget what you have learnt during your visit.

o You are expected to share this with your committee to ensure a wide variety of views are gained on your topic area.

After your visit, make sure you contact the organisation you visited to thank them for giving up their time to help you with your Bill/ Report process.

o Use the post-visit template to assist you in doing this.

Advocacy strategy – what does this strive to achieve?

Through contacting an external organisation, you will learn more about your Bill/ Report topic area from a different perspective and become aware of issues within this area that you may not have been aware of before conducting your community consultation visit. You will also learn firsthand the potential impacts of your reforms on individuals, organisations and communities. When sharing what you have learnt with your committee, you will gain more knowledge specific to your Bill/ Report topic and will ensure that your Bill/ Report is well-researched and not uninformed of the most important issues when it has been completed.

YMCA NSW Youth Parliament

Advocacy Handbook

Approaching external organisations:

A quick email is a good place to start when approaching organisations to see if they would be interested in talking to you. It is a chance to introduce yourself and the program, and to find out who in particular you should contact in regards to having a chat about your Bill/ Report topic.

NB: Make sure you take note of the person’s name for further correspondence!

Initial contact template – email:

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is [your name] and I have been lucky enough to be selected to represent our electorate of [insert electorate] in the YMCA NSW Youth Parliament 2015. The YMCA NSW Youth Parliament is a program that gives young people a voice in the running of NSW. It is a place where the opinions and concerns of young people in NSW are heard by those who have the power to make laws. Run by young people, for young people, the program aims to promote youth-led advocacy, active community leadership and legal and parliamentary education.

YMCA NSW and a committed team of volunteer leaders run the program, which brings together students from across NSW, each representing their local electorate. Each Youth MP works in a committee to develop legislation pertaining to a certain area that aims to overcome issues concerning their local communities.

As part of the process to form a piece of legislation, each Youth MP must engage with an organisation in their local community that works in the area of their Bill or Report. This aims to give the Youth MP more perspective and a better understanding of on the ground issues.

As such, I am writing to you to ask if it would be possible to speak with you personally, or someone from your organisation, to discuss the issues relating to X [your bill/report topic].

Please let me know if this would be possible. I would very much appreciate it.

Kind regards,

[your name]

[Youth MP for x]

[your email address]

[your phone number]

YMCA NSW Youth Parliament

Advocacy Handbook

Pre-visit template – phone call:

Good morning/ afternoon.

This is [your name], the Youth Member for [your electorate], calling from the YMCA NSW Youth Parliament. I have a meeting with [person you have organised to meet with’s name] tomorrow, and was just calling to confirm that our discussion will go ahead as planned at [time].

Thank you.

Post-visit template – email:

Dear [your person of contact],

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for meeting me yesterday to discuss my topic for the YMCA NSW Youth Parliament.

Your opinions, feedback and support are thoroughly appreciated by myself and the broader YMCA NSW Youth Parliament team.

Your insights will ensure that the youth leaders of our state have a thorough understanding of this important public policy challenge.

Yours sincerely,

[your name]

YMCA NSW Youth Parliament

Advocacy Handbook

COMMUNITY CONSULTATION REPORT

Name:

Electorate:

Committee Investigating:

Bill/ Report topic:

Organisation visited:

Person/people I spoke to and their position:

Date of consultation:

What did the person I spoke to think of our proposed Bill/ Report topic?

How will our proposed changes affect this organisation/ this sector?

What is the most important part of this issue?

Do they have any improvements or suggestions for our Bill/ Report topic?

What are other major issues in our portfolio area that may affect our Bill/ Report topic?

What will we have to keep in mind when drafting our Bill/ Report to better accommodate this person’s opinion?

Any other remarks:

YMCA NSW Youth Parliament

Advocacy Handbook