The NYA Blog
Report on meeting of the National Youth Agency Participation Strategy Review Group
22 February 2010
On Tuesday 16th February I attended the first meeting of the NYA Participation Strategy Review Group. The group is made up of NYA staff and from other organisations, such as the British Youth Council, vinspired, NCVYS and the Department of Health. The group’s purpose is to review the existing participation offer of the NYA.
Some of the morning was spent explaining the NYA’s current offer; as part of this, I outlined the young associate scheme, and why I think it is so valuable and offers an enormous amount of potential. I also fielded questions from the rest of the group about how the young associate scheme works.
In the afternoon, after a thought-provoking presentation by Tim Davies on the future of participation, the group discussed ideas for new products and services that the NYA could offer, particularly in relation to social media and the internet.
I found the meeting particularly interesting because it offered an opportunity to reflect on the current and possible future directions of youth participation in the UK. What was clear from these discussions is that there is huge potential for the NYA to consolidate its existing (and highly valued) work in the area of participation, whilst developing innovative new products and services to help increase and improve youth participation across the country.
I suggested that all young associates have the opportunity to feed into the review process, as I am sure that all would be interested to have an input. I also plan to reflect on the discussions and present more detailed comments about the future of the NYA’s participation offer.
Emily Middleton is one of NYA's Young Associates.