Delivering Leading for the Future in your district To start with we thought about “Why is youth leadership important (in Woodcraft Folk)?” to get everyone thinking about what exactly youth leadership is and why promoting it, through using resources like Leading for the Future, is important, and not only for the young people involved ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Future proofing the organisation Leadership by older people is also important - don’t forget about it or make it about “us” and “them” building leadership skills of young people who will be leaders outside of WCF Young people are not constrained by “it’s always been done that way” - makes a more progressive organisation ensures we have sustainable groups and districts supporting young leaders is the co-operative thing to do boosts young leaders self confidence - to take on other things as well encourages growth and strength and group enables young people to drive their own future fresh and new ideas Young leaders provide enthusiasm and ENERGY! they can relate better to the young people they’re working with important to promote current views on youth issues by young people themselves gives young people a voice responsibility and commitment it empowers and educates young people To change the world! helps transfer skills and experience to others it’s important to ensure subjects and activities are the things that matter to young people and not what the “not so young” people think should matter Woodcraft is a youth led organisation - and this shows that to share the work to learn the new skills need to take WCF forward and to ensure its continuation to provide a wider pool of skills and resources so people have experience when they’re no longer “youth to give something back
Summary of the resource - 12 hour long sessions - divided into 4 sections (our story, our groups, our community and across the country) - Designed for Venturer age and group nights, but it can be adapted quite easily - Really easy resource to use as it tells you everything you need - you can just pick it up and run with it or get some of the group members to run the session - “Before next time” section allows you to relate ideas in the resource to more practical situations in Woodcraft, to encourage people taking on new leadership roles - Foldout (with additional exciting poster!) gives people space to write down thoughts and ideas as they take part in different sessions, and also can signpost people to further training and support.
Part 1, Session1, Activity C - Leadership boxes (page 15) We talked about some of the leaders in our lives and what makes them leaders in our minds. Some of the leaders we talked about were: Changing the mood Ant and Dec Talal Alfie Moon My sister Verity Jones for writing up people’s sessions! Ghee Bowman My son Jo Making things happen Jan Harker Fridtjolf Nansen Jerry Pearce Leicestershire leaders My mum Phin Harper Sara Harvey - Luton Woodcraft Peter Roud - Venturer Leader Bill and Mary - Newham Woodcraft Inspiring people Barack Obama “Badger Colvert” Basil Rawson Nelson Mandela My foster mum Ranulphe Fiennes Monika My mum Riki Forrest Dalai Lama Pete cable - don’t wait to be like him Leading for the front James Bond Carly Mile Jedinak - Crystal palace FC captain Ingi Alexander the great And they fell of the sheet but I think they still should be mentioned! Leo Holding, Mum and Dad, Debs McCahon, Leonardo da Vinci, Tracy Cleveland, Nic Wooton
Part 2, session 1, activity B - Leadership styles (page 28) After splitting up into 3 different groups, each group discussed “how can we get more young people taking on leadership roles in Woodcraft?”, but coming from 3 different angles. Thinkers: explore the question, any definitions needed, discuss different angles and approaches to it. Team players: you’re very keen that everyone is included, think about all the different people involved and their needs. Task focused: don’t hang around over analysing – you need to get the job done, with clear actions, deadlines and people responsible agreed. The positive and negatives from each group Thinkers Positive - you get to hear and include different people’s thoughts Negatives - takes lots of time so you don’t get as much done Task focused Positive - Achieve things (?) Negative - They might not necessarily be doing the right things, no plan Team players Positives - linked to thinkers as to include everyone you have to think about their point of view everyone likes you You learn a lot Co-operative approach where you share responsibility Negatives - Needs lots of co-ordination and time as people need to be supported more with this approach Sometimes working on your own is good It can lead to stagnation, making it hard to move forward Part 4, Session 1, Activity A - Leadership seen and heard (page 55) We looked at several different movements, moments and campaigns for social change and saw whether we could match them up to the date they took place and thought about our involvement with them 1989 - UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is created. 1998 - European Convention on Human Rights is brought into UK law. 2007 - UK is bottom of a UN table for youth happiness and wellbeing across the 21 most developed nations in the world. 2004 - Mosquito devices are launched which give off an annoying high pitched sound only young people can hear to stop them being in certain places. 2011 - Egyptian youth use twitter to organise mass demonstrations ending in regime change. 2003 -“Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.” –Albus Dumbledore 2000 -The UK Youth Parliament is launched 2003 -Hands up for Peace campaign leads youth protest against war in Iraq. 2005 - Make Poverty History campaign inspires millions. 2010 - Students take to the streets against higher tuition fees.
For more information about the resource or how you can use it in your district, get in touch with the TREE team