GRANT GUIDELINES
FOR
EMPOWERING YOUTH
INITIATIVES
ROUND 2
CommonwealthofAustralia2016
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GENERAL INFORMATION AND INDICATIVE TIMELINE
Date(s) / Key Event10 October 2016 / Releaseofthe Grant Guidelineson360Pro.
12–13 October2016 / Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 informationwebinars.
5.00pm(Canberratime),
21October 2016 / Last day for questions and requests for clarification to the Department about the process for Stage 1 (Expressions of Interest) of regarding Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 Expression of Interest. There will be no obligation on the Department to answer questions received after this deadline (see Contact Details section).
5.00pm(Canberratime),
28 October 2016 / Closing dateandtimefor Expression of Interest applications for fundingunderthese Grant Guidelines.
11 November–2 December 2016 / The Department will provide written feedback and conduct meetings for applicants who are shortlisted in Stage 1.
The dates for feedback, meetings and the opening of Stage 2 will be staggered. The indicative dates are:
- 11 November 2016 — Group 1 (Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia)receive written feedback and receive meeting date. Stage 2 opens for Group 1 applicants.
- 18 November 2016 — Group 2 (New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory) receive written feedback and receive meeting date. Stage 2 opens for Group 2 applicants.
- 25 November 2016 — Group 3 (Queensland, Northern Territory and Tasmania)receive written feedback and receive meeting date.
Stage 2 opens for Group 3 applicants.
- 16–18 November 2016—Group 1
- 23–25 November 2016—Group 2
- 30 November, 1–2 December 2016—Group 3
5.00pm(Canberratime) on
5, 12 and 19 December 2016 / Applicants will have a staggered closing date to submit their Stage 2 Initiative Proposal. The indicative dates are:
- 5 December 2016—Group 1
- 12 December 2016—Group 2
- 19 December 2016—Group 3
5.00 pm (Canberra time),14December 2016 / Last day for questions and requests for clarification to the Department about the process for Stage 2 (Initiative Proposal) of Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2. There will be no obligation on the Department to answer questions received after this deadline (see Contact Details section).
FromFebruary2017 / Announcementofsuccessful applicants for Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2.
Fromlate February2017 / FundingAgreementsforEmpowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 enteredinto with successful applicants. Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 commences.
CONTACT DETAILS
The Employment ServicesPurchasingHotline()(theHotline) is the primarymeans ofcontactduringthegrant applicationperiod.
Questionsand requestsforclarificationaboutthese Grant Guidelinescanbedirectedtothe Hotline:
- Phone—1300733514 (MondaytoFriday,9.00amto5.00pmCanberratime,excludingACTand national publicholidays)
- Email—theEmployment ServicesPurchasingHotline().
All questions, clarifications and requestsfor informationin relation to the process for the Expression of Interest stage (Stage 1) must besubmitted to theHotlinepriorto 5.00 pm (Canberra time)21October 2016. Therewill be no obligation on the Department toanswerquestionsreceived afterthis time.
All questions, clarifications and requestsfor information in relation to the process for the Initiative Proposal stage (Stage 2) must besubmitted to theHotlinepriorto 5.00 pm (Canberra time) 14December 2016.There will beno obligation onthe Departmentto answer questionsreceivedafterthisdeadline.
TheDepartmentmaypublish responsestoquestionsor requestsforclarificationonthe grants process onthe EmploymentServicesProcurementInformation website( benefit ofall potentialapplicantswithoutidentifyingthesourceofthequestion or clarification. Please monitor theEmployment Services ProcurementInformationwebsitefor updated information.
TheHotlinecannotprovideinterpretationor adviseanapplicantonhow torespondto the requirementssetoutinthe Grant Guidelines,or provideinformationthatisnot contained inthese Grant Guidelines, unlessthat informationispubliclyavailable.
Webinar information sessions are scheduled for Wednesday12October 2016 at 2.00 pm–4.00 pm; and Thursday13October 2016 at 10.00 am–12.00 pm and 2.00 pm–4.00 pm (all times are Canberra time).
Registration for webinar information sessions, supporting the Grant Guidelines can be completed using the Information Sessions Online Booking Form (
A copy of the webinar presentationwill be made available on the Employment Services Procurement Information website( webinar information session.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1About these Grant Guidelines
1.1Purpose of these Grant Guidelines
1.2Scope and Purpose
1.3Webinar Information Sessions
CHAPTER 2About Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2
2.1Introduction
2.2Scope
2.3Duration and Funding
2.4Participant Numbers
2.5Priorities
2.6Locations and Coverage
2.7Eligible Participants and Interaction with Employment Services
2.8Operational Requirements
CHAPTER 3Eligibility to Apply
3.1Organisations Eligible to Apply
3.2Sole Traders
3.3Group Applicants
3.4Possible Types of Group Applicants
3.5Subcontracting Arrangements
3.6Foreign Companies
CHAPTER 4The Department’s Assessment Process
4.1Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013
4.2Probity
4.3Assessment Process
4.4Financial Viability and Other Checks
CHAPTER 5Selection Criteria and Required Information
5.1Stage 1 – Expression of Interest
5.2Stage 2 – Initiative Proposal
5.3Budget
5.4Referees
CHAPTER 6Legal and Other Matters
6.1Privacy
6.2Discrimination
6.3Working with Children
6.4Freedom of Information
6.5Fraud
6.6Other Matters
6.7The Department’s Rights and Liabilities
CHAPTER 7How to Lodge an Application
7.1Conditions of Lodgement
7.2Closing Date and Time
7.3360Pro
APPENDIX AGlossary
APPENDIX BCommunication Protocol
APPENDIX C360Pro and System Requirements
APPENDIX DDraft Funding Agreement
APPENDIX EApplication Checklist
Grant Guidelines for Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 1
CHAPTER 1About these Grant Guidelines
1.1Purpose of these Grant Guidelines
TheDepartmentofEmployment(theDepartment)isseekingapplications forfundingofEmpowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2fromall organisations that are not-for-profit, non-government organisations. Forfurther detail about eligibilityrequirementsand exclusionspleaserefertoChapter 3oftheseGrant Guidelines.
1.2Scope and Purpose
This documentoutlinestherequirementsforapplicants seekingtoapplyfor grantfundingto deliveractivitiesunderEmpowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2.This includesthe process for submitting applications, timelinesandconditionsoffunding.
This documentshouldbe consideredtogetherwithotherinformationaboutEmpowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2ontheEmployment Services Procurement Information website(
Anyadditional informationis provided for backgroundpurposesonlyandpotential applicants must completetheirapplicationbased onthe requirementsoutlined inthese Grant Guidelines.
In this document,unlessacontraryintention occurs,all capitalisedterms have the meaninggivento themin the list of definitions in Appendix A,Glossary. In the event of anyinconsistency, the definitionsinAppendix D, DraftFundingAgreement take precedence overtheterms defined inAppendix A.
1.3Webinar Information Sessions
TheDepartmentwill conductinformationsessionsvia webinars.
Detailsareavailableonthe Employment Services Procurement Information website( bycalling the Hotlineon 1300733514.
A copyofthewebinar presentationwillbe made availableontheEmployment Services Procurement Information website( webinar information session.
Registeryour interesttoattendawebinar informationsession online at
CHAPTER 2About Empowering YOUth Initiatives
2.1Introduction
TheAustralianGovernmentis committedtohelping youngpeopleatriskof long-term unemploymentimprovetheir chances offindingandkeepingajob.
Inthe2015–16Federal Budgetthe Government provided$55millionoverfouryears toestablish EmpoweringYOUthInitiatives toassistyoungpeopleatriskof long-termunemploymentin areas of highneedandentrenchedyouth disadvantage.
The objectivesforEmpoweringYOUth Initiativesare to:
- help more young people at risk of long-term unemployment to find and keep a job
- identify innovative approaches that have the greatest potential to improve employment outcomes for young people at risk of long-term unemployment and prevent long-term welfare dependency
- promote learnings from Empowering YOUth Initiatives to enhance current and future youthservices.
As part ofEmpowering YOUthInitiatives,around40individualinitiativeswill be funded for amaximumoftwo yearseach—19 initiatives have already been funded under Round 1.
TheDepartmentisnowseekingapplications forEmpoweringYOUth InitiativesRound 2. Successful applicants in Round 2 will be announced from February2017.
2.2Scope
The Departmentinvitesapplicationsthat offernew and differentapproaches toassist youngpeople at risk of long-term unemployment move towards sustainable employment.
The Empowering YOUth Initiative Round 2 assessment process will use a flexible two-stage approach. Applicants will be required to submit an Expression of Interest application for Stage 1. Applications will be shortlisted for progression to Stage 2. The Department will provide feedback to those shortlisted applicants and invite them to workshop their initiative. Shortlisted applicants will submit a more detailed Initiative Proposal for Stage 2. Further details on the selection criteria are provided in Chapter 5.
Applications mayseek to:
prevent unemploymentfor youngpeoplemostatrisk oflong-termunemployment
reducethebarriers toemploymentfor youngpeoplewhoarecurrentlyunemployedand atrisk of becoming long-termunemployed,or
help young people tostayinworktominimisetheriskof long-termwelfaredependency.
Withoutseeking tolimit initiatives,this mayincludenew or different approaches to:
- engage young people to maintain their connection to employment
- support young people at critical transition points to prevent unemployment
- enhance engagement with hard-to-reach young people through new approaches or improvements to service delivery
- implement new or improved forms of community partnerships that leverage existing or new resources differently for the benefit of young people in the target group
- implement new or improved forms of business partnerships to enhance employment opportunities for young people at risk of long-term unemployment and achieve more sustained employment outcomes
- support youth entrepreneurship as a pathway to employment
- generate new or improved types of evidence-based interventions to address vocational and non-vocational barriers to employment such as literacy and numeracy, work-readiness, psychological issues and family and social issues, and
- enable innovation, rather than inventing something or supporting something that’s already caught on; at its core, innovation is a process for creating new ideas (e.g., a new product or process) and turning them into something of value (e.g., commercial or social value).
Applicationscanoffer innovative activities that complement existing Employment Services, butmustnotreplicate theseservices i.e. applications should not propose activities that are already expectedas partof normal servicedelivery arrangement under Employment Services. Where complementary services are proposed, applicants must be clear in their application why the additional services are necessary and how they are innovative.For example, research has uncovered five main types of innovation[1]:
- product innovation (for example, digital service delivery and gamification)
- process innovation (for example, community co-design and behavioural economics or ‘nudge’)
- organisational innovation (for example, social enterprises and use to peer to peer networks)
- marketing innovation (for example, new ways of reaching different/more youth), and
- collaboration in innovation (for example, strategic partnerships and online platforms).
Employment Services include:
- Transition to Work
- ParentsNext
- jobactive
- Disability Employment Service
- the Community Development Programme
- Work for the Dole
- New Enterprise Incentive Scheme
- Harvest Labour Services
- National Harvest Labour Information Service, and
- PaTH (once established).
2.3Duration and Funding
Fundingfor Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 will be awarded tosuccessful applicantsfora maximum of two years with projects to be announced from February2017.
Applicants maysubmit one proposal worth up to $5 million dollars (GST inclusive). See Chapter 3 for further information on eligibility.
Empowering YOUth Initiativesaretime-limited because they are designed to test new approaches. Therefore ongoing fundingwill not beavailable.
There is no minimum period a project must operate for; however, each proposal can only receive funding for a maximum of two years.
Applicants must be in a position to commence their project before 30 June 2017.
2.4Participant Numbers
It is expected thatEmpowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2will eachhaveasufficientnumber ofParticipants(ata minimum, 100 Participants over two years) toenable meaningful evidence and evaluation tosupportfuture service delivery andpolicy design.
To achieve a minimum of 100 Participants, applicants should consider potential drop-outs, attrition and withdrawal and how this may impact on the outcomes and evaluation of an initiative.
In projects where it is difficult to gain 100 Participants, applicants should consider options to replicate the initiative in more than one location, including through partnering with another organisation in order to achieve this number of Participants.
Preference will be given in assessment to Expressions of Interest lodged in Stage 1 that have a minimum of 100 Participants over two years (see Section 5.1).
2.5Priorities
Funding for Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 will focus on the following priorities:
- Indigenous young people
- young people in areas of Australia with high youth unemployment[2]
- apprenticeships and traineeships
- creating new pathways to employment, or major improvements to pathways for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Applications do not need to address all priorities, but can focus on one or more.
There is no weighting for any of the priorities. An application may target any or all of these priority groups through a single application. The Department is seeking initiatives across all priorities and will take this into consideration when assessing applications.
The Department will also consider applications that do not address the priority groups where:
- the application addresses ademonstrated pressing local need,
- is considered highly innovative,
- takes advantage of a time-limited opportunity, or
- the Department considers it represents significant value for money.
2.6Locations and Coverage
Within the scope and focus of the Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2, there are no formal limits or boundaries as to where an initiative can operate. Initiatives could be delivered from physical locations or through online servicing, including innovative ways to use technologies, social media or other options that appeal to and attract young people.
Initiatives can be conducted across multiple locations.
The geographic diversity of Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2at a program level will be a consideration in the Department’s recommendations and decisions to ensure there are a range of initiatives across Australia.
2.7Eligible Participants and Interaction with Employment Services
The target group for Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2is young people aged 15–24 years (inclusive) who are long-term unemployed (unemployed for 12 months or more), or at risk of becoming long-term unemployed. An initiative can be aimed ata particular age group within the targetage range.
The risk factors for long-term unemployment are often complex and varied, and may include:
- homelessness or housing instability
- a disability or illness that reduces a young person’s capacity to participate in education or employment
- being in or leaving out-of-home care
- being a young parent
- leaving school before completion of Year 12 or an equivalent qualification level
- being from a jobless family, and
- a history of offending.
Participation in Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2is voluntary.
The target group can include young people who may or may not be receiving income support payments.
It is expected the organisations will develop proposals targeting vulnerable young people with a right to work in Australia. This includes:
- Australian citizens
- holders of permanent visas
- New Zealand Special Category Visas
- nominated Visa Holders (including Temporary Protection Visa Holders, and Safe Haven Visa Holders).
2.7.1Interaction with Employment Services
Generally, Participants in Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2can also participate in Employment Services.
jobactive
Young people who are receiving assistance from jobactive will continue to be connected to their jobactive provider and can use their participation in an Empowering YOUth Initiative as an activity.
Transition to Work
Transition to Work participants are alreadyreceiving intensive assistance and are not likely to be available to participate in Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2. For this reason, Transition to Work participants cannot concurrently participate in Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2, unless the Empowering YOUth Initiative does not impact on the young person’s participation hours, for example, using an Empowering YOUth Initiative App or website.
Disability Employment Services
Young people who are receiving assistance through Disability Employment Services may participate in Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2, where their provider agrees that participation in Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 would suit their individual circumstances.
Community Development Programme
Young people who are receiving assistance through the Community Development Programme may be able to participate in Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
2.8Operational Requirements
2.8.1Grant Payments
TheFundingAgreement between the Department and successful applicantswill specify milestones that link keydeliverables with payments of funding(GST inclusive). Thefirst payment will bepayable atthetimetheFundingAgreement is executed and the final Initiative Proposal is approved, with additional payments dependent onEmpowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2organisations achievingagreed performance milestones.These milestones mayinclude:
- submitting progress and final reports
- collecting and providing data and information required for evaluation
- meetinginitiative-specific milestones.
2.8.2Data Collection and Performance Reporting
Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 organisations will be required to collect and provide data to the Department for the purpose of monitoring the activities being conducted and demonstrating compliance with the Funding Agreement, including data that supports how:
- their approach is meeting the overall objective of Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2
- they monitor and analyse progress towards the objective
- they use monitoring and analysis to support continuous improvement.
Applicants will be required in their application to describe existing data management systems or provide strategies to capture this information.
The data to be collectedwould typically include:
- a detailed description of the activities provided for Participants
- Participant information such as demographic characteristics
- Participant contact details to allow for monitoring compliance
- Participant outcomes
- other initiative-specific information.
Successful applicants will be required to work with the Department from the outset to provide data and performance reporting, as set out in the Funding Agreement. At a minimum the first progress report will be provided at three months from execution of the Funding Agreement, the second progress report at six months from execution of the Funding Agreement and then each subsequent progress report will be required every six months. However, in some cases, more regular reporting may be required.
2.8.3Evaluation
Inaddition to monitoring anEmpowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 organisation’sperformanceunderthe FundingAgreement, the Department will work in partnership with Empowering YOUth Initiative organisations to determine the most appropriate evaluation approach for each initiative.
In order to achieve a high standard of evidence, it is an essential requirement that a comparison group be constructed, i.e. a group of youth in the target group who did not participate in the Empowering YOUth Initiative. The outcomes achieved by the comparison group, such as obtaining employment, are compared against the outcomes achieved by Participants in the initiative, to determine if the initiative has had a positive impact on helping the initiative Participants to overcome the barriers that prevent them from finding and keeping a job. This needs to be carefully considered at the design stage of the initiative. It is also imperative that the data collected as part of the initiative is fit for evaluation purposes:
- The preferred evaluation approach is a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) where practical. RCTs create comparison groups by randomly assigning only some people from a group of eligible youth to participate in the initiative, before the implementation of the trial. A properly designed and implemented RCT is widely regarded as the preferred approach in evaluating an initiative. The Department recognises that in some instances it will not be possible to get a RCT. Applicants won’t be disadvantaged if a RCT isn’t able to be achieved.
- An alternative is to collect detailed information, such as outcomes and demographic information, on youth in the target group who do not participate in the initiative. This is used to compare outcomes achieved by the Participants in the initiative to other youth in the target group with similar characteristics.
- Data will need to be collected for each individual Participant, including their demographic characteristics, baseline data, participation and outcome data. Where possible, unit record data of people similar to Participants, but not in the trial, will be used to compare outcomes between Participants in the initiative and the comparison group. As with the monitoring information, this data collected on each Participant must, at a minimum, be provided to the Department every six months. However, in some cases, more regular reporting may be required.
Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 organisations will be required to demonstrate their capability and capacity to support the Department in evaluating the effectiveness of the initiative to a high standard. Applicants should identify and describe any costs associated with evaluation and data management tools in the Initiative Budget form.