Project Implementation

A proposal outlining the potential scope of the reform of the YSGS was approved by DCEDIY’s Management Board and Minister O’Gorman in July 2021. This approval was followed by the preliminary stage of the reform project, which focused on engagement and consultation with two key stakeholder cohorts: the organisations funded under the YSGS; and children and young people themselves, as the ultimate beneficiaries of youth work. A series of consultative processes with these stakeholder cohorts were conducted between October 2021 and January 2022.

This engagement was augmented by the reform project’s data-gathering phase; which included the commissioning of a Rapid Review on the benefits and measurable outcomes associated with universal youth work. DCEDIY’s rationale for reforming the YSGS was deeply informed by this stakeholder engagement and data-gathering phase; which informed the development of the YSGS Reform Policy Options Paper (approved by DCEDIY’s Management Board and Minister O’Gorman in May, 2022).

Within this paper, DCEDIY outlined its aims to deliver a scheme that:

• Is more responsive to the current needs of young people.
• Facilitates National Youth Organisations to more effectively deliver services, and
• Facilitates improved governance, oversight and performance.

In approving the Reform Policy Options Paper, Minister O’Gorman and the DCEDIY Management Board approved a two-phase delivery model for the YSGS Reform Project., with 7 Core deliverables to be achieved by January 2024, followed by a further five Core Plus deliverables by January 2025.

Objective is to deliver 7 core reforms in advance of the 2024 funding cycle.

Core Deliverables:

1. Clarify, (re)define and communicate the policy intent underpinning the reformed YSGS, having regard to the existing ethos of the YSGS and current legislation and policy frameworks.

2. Ensure qualifying criteria align with the redefined purpose/philosophy of the reformed YSGS and that same have regard to the current make-up of YSGS participants.

3. Ensure the reformed grant scheme rules and guidelines are in alignment with criteria and policy intent and can be efficiently monitored by the assigned funding intermediary.

4. Create the conditions to enable the assigned funding intermediary to establish tailored Service Level Agreements/Performance Delivery Agreements with funded organisations.

5. Augment existing governance standards to ensure that all grantor/grantee obligations are adhered to in a transparent manner, scaled according to the complexity and capacity of participating organisations.

6. Implement a transparent facility to avail of YSGS funding (subject to minimum qualifying criteria) and develop a support system for existing YSGS organisations struggling to meet qualifying criteria.

7. Develop and implement a grant funding/allocation model that incorporates core funding with elements of performance-based funding and potentially, project specific and demand related funding.

Additional 5 core + deliverables in place for January 2025.

Core Plus Deliverables:

8. Develop, in negotiation with YSGS funded organisations and subject-matter experts, an outcomes based assessment model designed to build an evidence base to demonstrate the multi-dimensional value of youth work

9. Incentivise participating organisations to enhance the active participation of young people throughout the youth work environment; providing scope for the voice of young people from policy formulation through to implementation.

10. Incentivise participating organisations to devise methods to reduce barriers to entering youth work services; including accessibility, awareness, equality and integration initiatives

11. Implement a mechanism that links adherence to the National Quality Standards Framework to the grant allocation/outcomes based assess model(s)

12. Transfer reporting and data collection/collation to an ICT platform; designed to both improve the evidence base and to lower the administrative burden on participating organisations.