The National Youth Agency - Participation News, March 2008

Participation News, March 2008

16 Mar 2008
Latest Participation News Bulletin highlighting events for March 2008.

Policy

The government has published its Aiming High for Young People: A Ten Year Strategy for Positive Activities implementation plan. The plan includes building on and embedding effective mechanisms which enable the participation of young people in shaping the local offer of things to do and places to go; identifying and investing in creative ways of engaging the most marginalised young people; identifying and developing local mechanisms for bridging the gap between young people and their communities; increasing the quantity and quality of opportunities available to young people and ensuring that local authorities make certain that Children’s Trusts recognise and respond to the specific needs of young people.

Also of interest...

The government has published its Youth Taskforce Action Plan. It sets out how the government intends to support and tackle those young people who get into trouble, including anti-social behaviour, and how to enforce good behaviour and tackle the underlying causes. It sets out 18 commitments, one of which is to bring young people and communities together to shape and influence activities.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has announced plans for a new White Paper focused on empowering citizens. It will be based around four themes: improving deprived areas through regeneration and promoting work and enterprise; encouraging active citizenship and reviving civic society and local democracy; improving local public services; and strengthening local accountability. Unlocking the Talent of our Communities, the White Paper launch document provides more information and requests feedback to help to shape future policy.

The government has pledged £6 million over the next three years to work with youth leadership organisations to unlock the talent of young people. The money will help to encourage more young people to become leaders, develop and promote internships with local councillors and launch a national campaign to celebrate achievements of young people who have championed causes. Young People: Leading Change provides more information about youth leadership.

Lord Goldsmith’s Citizenship Review, Citizenship: Our Common Bond has set out reforms designed to clarify what it means to be a citizen and practical measures to help enhance a sense of shared belonging. The reforms include a citizenship ceremony for young people designed as an introduction to full participation in society, with young people leading on its content. It also acknowledges the importance of citizenship education to develop young people’s interest in civic participation.

Practice

Professor Jonathan Tonge has been appointed as chair of the new Youth Citizenship Commission. The Commission will focus on young people aged 11 to 19 and examines what citizenship means to them, consider how to increase their political participation and lead a consultation on whether the voting age should be lowered to 16.

CLG is consulting on its plans to give local communities a greater say on how public money is spent by 2012. Plans include using ‘community kitties’ to get more people involved in commissioning local community health services and building on the positive contribution young people are making through the Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital Funds. The deadline to respond is 10 June 2008.

Public libraries should offer young people opportunities to volunteer with younger or older library users, as well as a chance to shape library services and develop their citizenship skills, as part of a library ‘offer’ launched on 29 January 2008. The offer has been developed in consultation with young people by the National Youth Libraries Board, a partnership chaired by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and managed by The Reading Agency, with members including The National Youth Agency and government departments.

The UK Youth Parliament is hosting an online debate and vote to help decide which three issues should become national campaigns during 2008. The forum is open to young people aged 11 to 18 and will take place from 31March to 7 April 2008.

Elections for the Mayor of London and the London Assembly offer young people the opportunity to have a say on how London is run. Young people aged 18 and above, who live in London and are a British, Commonwealth or EU citizen are eligible to vote. A registration form is available online or can be collected from a local borough council office. The deadline for registration is 16 April 2008.

Research

The final report of the Carnegie Young People Initiative has been published. Empowering Young People looks at how to involve young people in decision making. Drawing upon its experience of funding research and projects in youth participation the report highlights the urgent need for a more proactive approach to youth participation to ensure the full engagement of young people in society.

New research from the Rural Youth Network, in partnership with The National Youth Agency, has found that significant progress has been made in developing the local offer of positive activities in rural communities. However, it is unclear whether young people are being sufficiently empowered to make the final decisions on service development and delivery.

Funding and Awards

Nominations are now open for BT’s Seen and Heard awards 2008. The awards, run in partnership with UK Youth Parliament, are being launched as part of BT’s Better World Campaign and aim to recognise young people who have used their communication skills to tackle an issue that is important to them. The closing date is 9 May 2008.

Nominations are now invited for the 2008 Nationwide Community & Heritage Awards. This year the Awards have been extended to encompass the theme of heritage as well as community, as part of a new partnership with the Heritage Lottery Fund. There are two categories for young people, one under each theme. Closing date for nominations is 28 April 2008.

The Co-operative for Young Film Makers is calling for entries to the 2008 Young Film Makers Festival taking place at the National Media Museum on 9-10 October. Entries are invited from young people under 21. The deadline for receipt of films is 27 June 2008.

02’s ‘It’s your community’ programme offers grants of up to £1,000 to help people make real differences to their communities. It funds a range of projects bringing people together to benefit their communities, including improving local facilities, practical conservation activities, and litter or graffiti removal.

Community Spaces managed by Groundwork UK offers Big Lottery funded grants of up to £49,000 to community groups to create and improve their local environment. The grants are open to community groups in England and it will fund a range of projects including informal sports areas and multi-use games areas, and community parks and gardens.

Resources

The Children's Society has launched a new website to help professionals working with disabled children and young people. The Disability Toolkit website is designed as a one-stop information hub, providing resources, information and assistance to professionals who support disabled children in decision-making and participation activities.

Participation Works’ new guide Listen and Change. A guide to children and young people's participation rights aims to increase understanding of children and young people’s participation rights and how they can be realised in local authority and third sector settings. It suggests ways to listen effectively to children and young people in order to create change.

Disabled children from Generate UK and 1 Voice together with the Council for Disabled Children (CDC) and Participation Works have produced a poster as part of the ‘Making Ourselves Heard’ project. The poster Top Tips for Participation shows the key areas that young disabled people feel could be changed to make a positive impact on their lives.

Events, Jobs and Training

The NYA is supporting a free event as part of the Children’s Trusts development programme funded by the DCSF. (The DCSF programme is designed to improve Children’s Trust’s participation outcomes for children and young people through the implementation of the Hear by Right standards). The event is designed to share practice, build on the learning from the Trusts and showcase best practice. The workshop, open to all will be held in Leicester on Thursday 10 April 2008. Please note that the final booking deadline is Friday 4 April 2008.

A one day conference aimed at empowering hard to reach groups to participate in two-way communication and decision making is being organised by Haymarket Events on 14 May 2008. The event, endorsed by The National Youth Agency and British Youth Council, will include workshops focusing on work with a range of hard to reach groups and participation methods. Speakers include Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children, Young People and Families.

The NYA, funded by BIG, is currently delivering a series of workshops over the next 12 months on behalf of Participation Works. The workshops are aimed at Third Sector organisations wanting to develop their participation work with young people aged 10-25 to whom the training is free.

A one day conference from Investing in Children seeks to examine children and young people’s position in society, their rights as citizens, the current debate around well being and how it takes into account the views of children and young people. The event includes six young people led workshops and takes place on 28 May 2008 in York.

A new Postgraduate Certificate in Youth Participation is being offered at Birbeck, University of London. The course will commence in October 2008 and is available for both full time and part time study. Further information is available from Carly Guest tel: 020 7079 0891.

Participation Works is an online gateway to the world of children and young people’s participation. It includes access to information, resources, training and networking opportunities.

If you would like to find out more about The NYA’s work on participation, The NYA Participation Newsletter is available from the Participation Team webpages. It is published direct to the web every two months.