Planning opportunities for young people – the ‘what’ and ‘why’

The features of planning volunteering opportunities include:

When talking to young people translate corporate objectives into something meaningful

What action you can take

• Use the most appropriate language for the audience
• Capture young people’s attention and involve them in the planning activity
• Consider the short timescale that young people will be interested and available
• Be clear on what is achievable – don’t make idle promises
• Use pilot activity and quick win approaches to find out what works for young people

Arguing the case for planning

Young people do not necessarily term all of these activities ‘volunteering’ but they do clearly see themselves as giving their own time and energy without pay in the service of others (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Creating the feedback loop…confirms to young people involved that their views are taken seriously and to other young people that change can actually be achieved (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Consider young people when planning delivery approaches

What action you can take

• See young people of agents of change – they can tell you what will work in practice
• Identify relevant workers that can act as a virtual team
• Ask what information will be useful and relevant to young people

Arguing the case for planning

[young people] faced institutionalised hurdles in the lack of resources to meet their specific needs or the failure to adapt service responses in the way they needed. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Check you have the skills and knowledge to work with young people

What action you can take

• Use tailored training for officers and members who will be in contact with young people
• Use training and accreditation of young people to support their involvement in the planning stage e.g. chairing meetings and minute taking
• Be clear what young people’s needs are – particularly with any external providers

Arguing the case for planning

Funding bodies also have a tendency to create schemes with unmanageable timelines…. recruitment, training and briefing of staff need to take place. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Engage young people in planning activity

What action you can take

• Use a range of approaches to engage young people from drama and social networking to music and story-telling
• Listen, use what you hear, and keep the channels of communication open with young people as ideas become plans
• Agree with young people what they can expect and what is expected of them.
• Don’t expect young people to come to you, especially when geographically spread or with differing needs

Arguing the case for planning

Much of the recruitment was by work of mouth through youth clubs or youth workers in their areas and participation workers had given presentations at community centres…some had been referred….young people were nominated or elected. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Consider the practicalities

What action you can take

• Address any duty of care implications when getting young people involved from the start
• Make it as easy for young people to be involved as possible – use multi-media approaches to give them a voice if they cannot join meetings

Arguing the case for planning

[one authority] designed a ‘communication passport’ to help young people with specific needs explain their requirements to people who met them [and] and adapted OCN module on volunteering for those with learning difficulties. (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

For certain groups the process of gaining appropriate permissions an clearances can be extremely involved. Accreditation schemes may need to be specially created or adapted (Doers and Shapers, DMU, 2009)

Find out about planning in action – learning from the projects >>