Gateshead’s story– Check it out!

Gateshead recruited young volunteers from looked after, BME and unemployed backgrounds as part of their ‘Check it out’ project; to monitor a range of services including leisure, youth and community centres as part of a widespread review of local services.

The band of volunteers received training in auditing and evaluating services together with young people from the areas covered by programme partners, South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council and Durham County Council. By rewarding the volunteers with accreditation, the project has since generated a network of trained young people who can support others in shaping improvement in local services. 

What they learned

• Get the foundations right
• Senior staff should be involved at the planning stage
• Partners should share aims and targets
• Don’t under-estimate travel costs: the project operated across a relatively wide and often rural geographical area, personal visits to a range of locations were required to recruit young people. Extra funding was raised to meet these costs.

Structure, support and ownership

• A joint steering group should take ownership of the project and facilitate decision making by the partners
• Training is essential for those delivering the project on the ground
• Encouraging people to take responsibility for their part in the project can encourage buy-in and save time. For example, a taxi driver in County Durham arranged his own CRB check to facilitate transport from some of the more rural parts of the County.

Value added for staff and volunteers

• Early identification of whether or not support workers have the skills and the capacity to undertake the work is crucial to successful project delivery.
• Employ accredited learning programmes such as ASDAN to develop projects.
• Ensure that activities are fun, of a good quality and carried out in young people friendly venues

Link it into real measures both internal and shared across partnerships

• Build the project into Local Area Agreement targets and the Council’s long term vision.
• Commitment from partner organisations/departments and from key workers is crucial to the success of the programme.

Find out about the authority’s ongoing good practice at www.gateshead.gov.uk