The first step is to consider brainstorming with friends/colleagues and see if a group of you have a similar approach and are ready to support each other to put this forward. Then identify the unit of the government whose prevue the issue follows under, this may include multiple levels of government. Start by contacting the smallest unit as they are more likely to be personally familiar with the issue. You can ask this unit for a consultation wherein you will present potential solutions to the issue. It is important to think of how different actors can be involved in solution and emphasize your desire for cooperation during the consultation. Try to avoid blaming a specific person or group and focus on how together the issue can be resolved.
Key to good youth consultations is the selection process and preparation. First, identify which specific topics the consultation will focus on so that you can find youth who are specifically engaged in those areas. Consider asking relevant youth organizations to nominate someone to participate in the consultation. Secondly, ensure that the youth participants are given preparatory work well in advance to the consultation. These tasks can help build their background knowledge of the particular issue and formulate appropriate solutions. The use of technology, and asking youth to come up with innovative ideas, can attract participation.
Creating a good structure and strategy can help mitigate the inappropriate information from surfacing and being released. Make sure sufficient time is allocated in preparing for the consultations so that all staff involved are familiar with the intended flow of the event and know what information is sensitive and cannot be shared. Also stress the significance of teamwork and accountability. When designing the structure of the consultation, highlight potential points where questions about sensitive information might arise and ensure all are aware of a strategy on how to deal with such a situation. This could include pivoting back to the focus of the consultation and valuing the role of each team member.
Policymaking will differ from country to country. However, in general, some key processes remain the same. It begins in the “agenda-setting” stage. Here, the public or government itself may recognise a problem that needs to be responded to. The legislative and bureacratic machinery of government may formulate, adopt, and implement a strategy for addressing the problem. Upon being adopted as a formal policy, it is implemented into action and will ideally undergo several stages of evaluation and revision.
Source: https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/archive/html/bur/features/0303_01/policy.html