Accurate and accessible information is vital for young people to make well-founded and appropriate decisions about all aspects of their lives. Young people need to have the knowledge and confidence to access information in order to make properly informed decisions. Information, therefore, needs to be available through a range of information mechanisms in a form that is user-friendly to the target group.
The Internet is often lauded as providing the latest, the best and the quickest services or information in a format to which young people respond positively. It is essential that young people have access to existing and developing technologies so that barriers to accessing technologies do not create inequalities in opportunities and outcomes.
The Ministry, particularly through the work of the Communications and Facilitation Unit, plays a key role in disseminating information to young people about government policies and services. It also acts as a clearing house for information to young people and produces a range of relevant information, as well as giving advice on resources targeted at young people by other government agencies.
Publications produced by the Ministry of Youth Affairs, which have been developed for young people and those who work with them, include:
- Youth Matters: an information page circulated through the national youth newspaper, Tearaway, providing details of policies, practices and developments affecting young people;
- Young Kiwi: a booklet for school leavers which provides information on a range of matters (eg employment, funding, housing, relationships);
- Youth Workers Unplugged: which reports on new developments, policies, and initiatives of interest to youth workers;
- info@youthaffairs.govt.nz: a publication, to be supported by an electronic information page, providing information on the policy priorities, new developments, and research relevant to young people.
Facilitating youth participation in decisions which will affect their choices in life is seen as important by the Ministry in fulfilling its brief. Involving young people in decision-making promotes their ability to move into adulthood informed about their rights and responsibilities as citizens. If young people have been involved, they feel some ownership of the decisions made and are more likely to comply with, as well as understand, the policies and programmes developed.
Facilitating effective youth participation is carried out through a variety of methods. As well as consulting with young people during the process of policy and programme development, the Ministry also informs young people about ways in which they can have input into these processes. Young people are encouraged to experience participatory processes through School Councils, Youth Councils, student representation on Boards of Trustees, and other forms of interaction with local and central government processes, such as the triennial New Zealand Youth Parliament.
As New Zealand has no national non-government organisation which represents the interests of young people, the Ministry has a particular responsibility to work with the NGO sector to encourage comment on policy and programme development.
The Ministry does not seek to advocate on behalf of young people. It seeks to provide them with the knowledge and understanding of the various processes involved in a democratic society so as to increase their participation, and as a result, increase their ability to make informed choices.
Information Needs 
