Over a period of three months, a team of 14 Macedon Ranges young people, from across the gender and sexuality spectrum, and project staff came together to learn from each other. The young people had a deep understanding of the issues around consent that young people face, the specific context of relationships in the Macedon Ranges and how to speak with young people effectively. The staff brought expertise in sexual violence primary prevention, academic understanding of consent and relationships and advocacy skills. Together, we developed a consent workshop and activities to be delivered to young people.

Our Peer Educators delivered consent workshops to other young people in the community. Through discussion, collage and art, each participant created their own poster to take home with them. The poster helps them decide what they want in a healthy relationship, the role the law plays in that, and the actions they can take to stand up to unhealthy influencers.

Everyone has the right to fun, caring and respectful relationships, no matter their sexuality or gender identity. We collaborated with young LGBTIQA+, cisgender and/or heterosexual people from the Macdon Rangers to make an LGBTIQA+ inclusive program to teach young people about consent.

We published Volume 1 of our Crafting Consent zine - sharing this at workshops to help young people learn more about healthy relationships and consent.

In the next iteration of the project, we are delivering the Talking Consent Project (with Karen Young People), with the aim to review, adapt, and expand on the YPAC model and existed associated resources through a co-design process and peer-educator program to address and support the specific needs of Karen young people (aged 16-24) in the Loddon region.

The goal of the Project is to create a culturally sensitive and respectful program focused on understanding the context of sexual violence (prevalence and structural factors), affirmative consent and respectful relationships.