If a decision affects you, you should have a say in it.
On its own that sentence costs nothing. Every consultation ever run would agree with it. What it actually costs is on this page: eight principles we build to, eleven promises that bind us and every organisation running a campaign here, and the standard they come from.
Eight principles
- 01
Real influence, not the appearance of it
A young person's time is only worth asking for when something can change. If nothing can, we say so and we don't run the campaign.
- 02
Say what's open, and what isn't
Every campaign says what you can change, what is already fixed, who makes the final call and when. Before the first question, not in the report afterwards.
- 03
Respect people's time
Campaigns are short by design, and the length is on the card. An ask that costs you a whole evening only reaches people who can spare one.
- 04
Short isn't shallow
Depth comes from the question, not the duration. A budget that doesn't stretch, or a choice where one thing has to go, is what a real decision looks like — and what makes an answer worth acting on.
- 05
Evidence a decision can use
Every finding carries the numbers it came from. We say plainly what a campaign can and can't claim. We never let a small group stand for everyone.
- 06
Inclusion takes more than a link
We meet young people on the phone they already have, in language that needs no glossary. We look for what gets in the way: cost, time, language, disability, confidence, safety. When somebody is missing, we name the gap rather than average over it.
- 07
Everyone finds out what happened
What changed, what didn't, and why. Published back to the people who answered, by a date named at the start. An organisation that goes quiet past its own date is shown as overdue, in public.
- 08
Organisations get help, not homework
Nobody should have to be an engagement expert to ask well. Bring the plan you already have; turning it into something a sixteen-year-old will answer is our job.
The sayit code
What you should expect from us
sayit exists to help young people take part in decisions about their own lives. And to help organisations decide better, by listening properly.
This code applies to sayit and to every organisation running a campaign through us. A promise we keep on our own screens while an organisation breaks it on the decision is not a promise.
Two words, used widely
- Young people
- Anyone who could be affected by the decision, or who has an interest in it. Not an age bracket that happens to be convenient to reach.
- Participation
- More than collecting comments. A real chance to help work out the problem, explore what is possible, or change a decision.
- 01
Participation must have a real purpose
We will only ask young people to take part where there is a genuine reason to. Participation should produce a better decision — not help an organisation say it consulted young people.
Every campaign says:
- What decision is being made
- Why the organisation wants young people in it
- What you can influence
- Who makes the final call
- 02
We help young people be heard
Our job is to make it easier for you to take part, and harder for decision-makers to ignore what they hear.
That means helping organisations understand what young people actually told them, and answer it properly. Not counting how many replied.
- 03
We earn trust through honesty
We will be upfront about the process, the decision, and the limits on what can change.
We will not overstate how much influence you have. We will not call something co-design, collaboration or empowerment when it is not.
- 04
You will know what your role is
Before you take part, we explain exactly what part you have in the decision.
You should know whether you are being asked to:
- Share information or experience
- Give feedback
- Help develop the options
- Work alongside the decision-makers
- Make or share the final decision
- 05
You get the information you need
Clear, useful information, so you are answering with the full picture. The evidence that matters, what the limits are, what things cost, what has to be given up, and what is still not certain.
We will separate what is known, what is disputed, and what nobody knows yet. We will not leave something out because it might change how people answer.
- 06
Participation should be accessible and fair
We will work to include the young people a decision affects. Not only the ones easiest to reach, or already confident about speaking up.
We will look for the barriers: language, disability, technology, location, cost, time, confidence and safety. And we will not claim a campaign represents all young people when it does not.
- 07
We respect communities
We will not set people against each other, stir up conflict, or split groups apart to get a result.
Disagreement is allowed, and it is usually the most useful thing in the room. It gets explored fairly and reported as what it is, rather than flattened into two sides.
- 08
We support the process, not a preferred answer
Our role is a fair and meaningful process. We will not design an activity to steer young people towards the answer an organisation already wants.
If an organisation wants a particular answer, it has to say so plainly. It does not get to build that into the questions.
- 09
Promises must mean something
Organisations should only promise what they actually mean to do, and are allowed to do.
We record what was promised at the start of a campaign, with the date on it, so it can be checked against what actually happened. If an organisation goes past its own date and publishes nothing, that stays on the record until it does.
- 10
We close the loop
You deserve to know what happened after you took part. Reporting back is part of participation, not a communications job that happens if there is budget left.
Every campaign reports:
- What was heard
- What was decided
- How young people's contributions influenced it
- What could not be acted on, and why
- What happens next
- 11
We keep improving
We will listen to young people about how the asking itself could be better. Not only about the decision in front of them.
We will help organisations and the people who run these asks get better at it, and challenge any process that does not meet this standard. When we get something wrong, we will say so, fix what we can, and learn from it.
Where this comes from
Seven things that have to be true of good participation. None of them asks you to understand how a council works before your experience counts.
- 01
If a decision affects you, you should have a say in it.
- 02
Your input should have a real chance to influence what happens.
- 03
Good decisions take in what everyone needs, including the people making the decision. That way they work now, and they still work later.
- 04
Organisations should go looking for the people a decision will affect, and the people who care about it.
- 05
You should have a say in how you are asked to participate, not just in what you are asked.
- 06
You should get clear, useful information, so you understand the decision before you answer it.
- 07
You should be told what was heard, what was decided, and how people's input made a difference.
These are the seven core values of the International Association for Public Participation, put in plain words and written to you. We did not write them and we are not claiming them. The councils, TAFEs and departments that buy this kind of work already report against this standard. So it is the one to hold us to — not a standard we made up ourselves and could quietly move.