COVID-19 Recovery Scenarios and Young People: Health and Wellbeing
Channel: Young People's Sustainable Futures Lab
Date: 2020-10-06

The COVID-19 pandemic is triggering profound crises around the world, and the social, economic and political fallout from these crises is likely to be longer and deeper than any recession for several generations. The impact will be significant, and long-term for young people - in terms of their health and well-being, education and training, and employment pathways. The COVID-19 Recovery Scenarios for Young People in Melbourne’s Inner North project is a partnership between the Inner Northern Youth Employment Taskforce, the Inner Northern LLEN and the UNESCO UNEVOC Centre @ RMIT University. Our aim is to identify recovery scenarios for young people in the Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Darebin, Moreland and Yarra. So far the project has conducted an online survey, stakeholder interviews, and interviews with young people to help to develop the scenarios. The series of lockdowns that Melbourne has experienced since March 2020 have produced a range of social, economic and policy crises that have had a particular impact on young people - most notably in terms of massive disruptions to schooling, education and training, enforced periods of ‘social distancing’ and isolation from family and friends, and severe impacts to the businesses and labour markets that mostly employ young people. Around the world, across Australia and Victoria, and in metropolitan Melbourne and Melbourne’s inner north, these disruptions and crises have posed significant health and well-being challenges for different groups of young people. In this video young people from these suburbs talk about the current health and well-being challenges they face, and their hopes for the future.