Tackling youth unemployment through codesign in Melbourne’s west

Melbourne’s western suburbs suffer persistently high youth unemployment. One program is rethinking the problem through codesign and place-based interventions.

Until year 9, Michael Lim was a “pretty terrible” student.

“I like to say my biggest accomplishment was getting two lip piercings and being kicked out of the house for it,” he tells The Mandarin.

But his school offered an alternative pathway in year 10 for young men at risk of dropping out, where students set their own learning goals and created a tailored curriculum to fit.