About YACVic Rural
YACVic Rural is a dedicated non-metro arm of the Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic), the peak body and leading policy advocate on young people’s issues in Victoria. Our vision is that the rights of young people in Victoria are respected, and they are active, visible and valued in their communities. Our mission is to propel action that inspires positive change for young people and the youth sector.
We know that young people and youth professionals in rural and regional Victoria often have unique insights and face different challenges to those in metropolitan Melbourne. In response, YACVic Rural expands our statewide advocacy for young people in regional communities and the rural youth sector. We focus our presence across the Great South Coast and Southern Mallee regions.
YACVic and YACVic Rural work in partnership with young people, youth practitioners and our partner agencies to:
Elevate voices of young people and the youth sector to institutions of power
Promote solutions by identifying and recommending policy and advocacy ideas on issues that affect young people
Build capacity through resourcing and promoting high-quality youth work, participation and leadership
Nurture connections by convening groups and enabling platforms for co-ordination, support and collaboration
Advance thinking by partnering on research and consultations on emerging issues for young people
YACVic is an independent, for-purpose organisation with funding from the Victorian Government’s Office for Youth. We pursue social justice by maintaining a focus on those young people in our community who face disadvantage or marginalisation.
YACVic Rural is a small team which operates using a ‘hub and spoke’ model, connecting our statewide work with the rural sector across diverse parts of Victoria, and provides a particular focus on our spokes located in Great South Coast and Southern Mallee.
YACVic Rural also coordinates our work with LGBTIQA+ communities via the Healthy Equal Youth (HEY) project, funded separately by the Department of Health. HEY has a place-based focus in regional Victoria and includes 16 HEY Partner organisations, the annual HEY Small Grants Round and HEY Day celebration. In recent years YACVic Rural has played a role in advocating for greater inclusion by young people in disasters through targeted resource development featured on our disaster resource hub, hosting programs including Future Proof and currently the Centre of Excellence: Young People & Disasters.
YACVic Rural works closely with other youth advocacy services including Youth Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS), the Koorie Youth Council (KYC) and Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY).
ROLE & PURPOSE
The role of the YACVic Rural Statewide Reference Group is to:
Represent the views and experiences of the rural youth sector and help promote stronger policy, service delivery and support for young people in rural and regional communities.
Provide a statewide voice for rural and regional young people and the youth sector
Provide advice to YACVic to inform the implementation of the Rural Presence Project (RPP).
OBJECTIVES
Inform the development of YACVic research, policy, advice to government, training sessions for workers and young people.
Network with youth service providers and young people from around the state, to share your expertise, concerns and news.
Be part of systemic advocacy to the Victorian Government about the issues affecting rural and regional young people and the rural youth sector.
Contribute to the delivery of key YACVic Rural events and activities.
MEMBERSHIP
In addition to YACVic Rural Team members, the Rural Reference Group will include:
4 young people from rural and regional Victoria with a mix of lived experience, gender, cultural background and geographic locations
4 rural/regional youth sector representatives with a mix of roles and sector experience, gender, geographical representation.
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
All members aged 18+ years will be required to have a current Working with Children Check (WWCC) and a Police Check.
A Chairperson will be selected by the group and will be sector or youth representative.
All members can put forward items for the agenda.
YACVic Rural update including key work progress, upcoming events, and emerging policy/ advocacy issues will be a standard agenda item.
YACVic Rural team will supply secretariat support book meetings including venue and technology, call for agenda items, record and minutes and process meeting papers.
YACVic Rural team will support travel and accommodation needs and any out-of-pocket expenses associated with meeting attendance of any members for in-person meetings where needed.
Members will commit themselves to functioning in an environment that creates and extends opportunities for:
Collaboration
Inclusivity
Reflection
ABSENCES
If a member is absent for three consecutive meetings without notice or justifiable reason, the reference group will review their membership.
MEETINGS
The YACVic Rural Reference Group will meet quarterly; a minimum of one meeting will be held in a rural location.
All meetings will be accessible online using relevant online meeting platform. Meeting will usually run for 3 to 4 hours with an annual full day meeting.
A meeting schedule will be set annually in consultation with members.
REPORTING MECHANISMS
DECISION MAKING
Decisions will be made by consensus of members of the Statewide Reference Group.
Next review of TOR: 12 months, March 2027.
TERM
This Terms of Reference is effective from March 2026 and will end in June 2027. After that, terms will be for two-years or until terminated by agreement between the parties. Members can serve a maximum of two consecutive terms.
