Building Standards

The Building Standards framework enables young people to use the Hear by Right participation standards to map and plan their priorities for action and change within an organisation in a way that is understandable and accessible to them.

Taking the Seven S model for organisational change, Building Standards uses the analogy of building a house to clearly present how all aspects of an organisation must work together with a common set of shared values to better involve children and young people in the decision making process that affects them. The seven standards used in the original Hear by Right have been replaced with language and cartoons that are friendly to young people.

For more information please see our Downloads section where the Building Standards materials can be downloaded for free.

Building standards in the National Youth Agency

Much like the Hear by Right processes, different organisations have used the Building Standards framework in a variety of ways. The video below reports on the Practise What We Preach Day at the National Youth Agency. This event used the Building Standards framework to ask young people that they have worked with how The Agency can better involve children and young people in the decision making process.

Building Standards in Kings Norton

King's Norton New Deal for Communities in Birmingham is the first neighbourhood renewal area in the country to formally adopt Hear by Right to ensure that the active involvement of the younger members of its community is built in, rather than bolted on. "This gives us more power to help in the community and to help young people." Matthew Davies (16).

With the support from Birmingham Youth Service, the 3 Estates Youth Forum has been busy proving its strapline - "We are here! No longer invisible!" Their Manifesto declares: "We are a group of 19 young people aged 12-19 from the three estates, who meet every two weeks. Our Manifesto is to tell you what we believe in and what we are going to do."

The Manifesto sets out the group's top seven priorities for their active involvement, using the Hear by Right Building Standards tools, each superbly illustrated by them to underline the point.

The video below is a brilliant example of Hear by Right Building Standards in action: