Mountains and Molehills Sharing good practice in youth participation A huge THANK YOU from Woodcraft Folk to everyone who joined us in Kent for our first ever youth-participation themed practice-sharing weekend. We hope this report from the weekend will be useful for all of us who were there, and also our colleagues and similar organisations who are working to involve young people in all aspects of the services and communities that affect them. This is a long report (we got through a lot of different sessions and conversations!) so if you don’t have time to read it all immediately, use the first couple of pages as a summary. If you have any questions, would like to add anything we’ve missed, or have already taken action on any of the ideas that came up – let us know!
Who was there Name
Organisation
Joe Wyatt
UK Youth
joe@ukyouth.org
Joanna Mayes
UK Youth / Mind The Gap
jo.mayes@ukyouth.org
Fliss Callanan
Scouts
felicitycallanan@hotmail.com
Kirsty Bate
Scouts
kirsty.bate@scouts.org.uk
Mike O’Donovan
YCare International
mike.odonovan@ycareinternational.org.uk
Suzie Green
Girlguiding UK
suzie.green@girlguiding.org.uk
Jo Knox
Girlguiding UK
joanneknox60@hotmail.com
Louis Howell
NCVYS
louis@ncvys.org.uk
Josh Harsant
NCVYS
josh@ncvys.org.uk
Louise Delmege
Woodcraft Folk District Fellows
chair@spanthatworld.com
Ashley Van-Rixtel
Leicestershire Woodcraft Folk
ashleyvanrixtel@hotmail.com
Chloë Darlington
Woodcraft Folk
chloe.darlington@woodcraft.org.uk
Rebecca Mattingly
Woodcraft Folk
rebecca.mattingly@woodcraft.org.uk
Polina Aleksandrova Pavla Cihakova
European Voluntary Service
polina.aleksandrova@woodcraft.org.uk
European Voluntary Service
pavla.cihakova@woodraft.org.uk
Elvis Ngolle
European Voluntary Service
elvis.ngolle@woodcraft.org.uk
Catherine McCarthy
Cudham Environmental Activities Centre
cudham@woodcraft.org.uk
Under 16s helping at the event: Sophie, 14 – reporter and facilitator Jake, 13 - reporter Olive 11, Laura, 11 and Betty, 13 (supported by group leader Louise) – project leaders of the Send My Sister to School Action Project
What we did The agenda for the weekend included A workshop on youth campaigning and the Hearing Unheard Voices project by UK Youth A workshop on supporting local youth-led projects by Woodcraft Folk A workshop on how the Scouts support youth participation at all levels of their organisation
Some useful ideas that came up, big and small - Sticky walls - Mini-protestors - An online march - Sometimes it’s the concept of the activity that’s useful, not the detail - Youth-led skill-sharing events - Invite a delegation of young people, not just one representative -
How would you involve a 12-year old? - Breaking into small groups is often good but make sure you share decisions, ideas and
A taster of the youth-led peer-support project MEST-UP from Woodcraft Folk’s 16 – 20 year olds
actions - YP don’t need to have a voice to be heard - Use different styles of discussion -
An Open Space session to discuss any youth participation-related topics people wanted
- To be as effective as possible in his participation, Jake may require training to better his skills -
Particular thanks should go to Jo Mayes, who shared her personal experiences of mental health, and has created Mind The Gap – a massively positive campaign for young people’s mental health at a time when support for young people’s mental health issues is shockingly lacking and unequal.
- Try to use games appropriate to what you’re trying to do - Think about how you can get young people involved on different levels, small tasks to larger projects - Using your PEER networks – friends? -
We shared our challenges, and offered our ideas on how others could solve theirs. There was a common theme of the difficulties of communicating consistently and accessibly across different levels of our organisations, and of including all young people – not just the same faces from the same demographics.
Because we don’t have a
Large size and communication How do we ensure consistent rules across all levels? - Leaders are volunteers – we can’t really dictate to them as they give up their time.
Have different options / methods so they can choose method that best suits them eg attending events, linking with social networks, reading post etc Give them an informal space to share ideas that aren’t part of organisational communications (ie topics that aren’t part of the national conversation) but could be useful later / locally – so they can focus on important issues in your main channels How to maintain members? How to encourage members to get involved nationally and locally? How to improve communication between different areas of the organisation?
Communication across a large organisation at lots of levels
Facebook can be used successfully as it has many sub-functions eg groups, docs, notes (“How –to” guides may be required) Project management systems eg Basecamp Woodcraft hope to try Organic Groups—e-groups combined with online forums
‘One front door’ approach – one single method Social media / interactive websites Exciting challenges and opportunities (to maintain members) Give young people leadership of projects (to encourage them to get involved nationally and locally) How to raise our profile? How to explain Woodcraft without organising events?
Social media presence (online environment) Twitter Partner with other youth organisations?
membership we find it hard to: - Recruit young trustees that have enough skills and knowledge of what we do - Take advantage of opportunities to involve young people in events / actions - Involve marginalised / socially excluded young people in our decisionmaking, particularly in terms of what topics / issues we should develop projects on!
NCVYS is exploring this!! – to create a ‘sector’ approach Partner with people who do Interest group – online Flexibility – meeting a range of needs Work with target groups
Finding new young people – it’s always the same faces
‘Bring a friend’ days / meetings / tasters Different sessions – different themes, different methods Work with target groups Ask new people for recommendations for new faces e.g. next level down Flexibility – meeting range of needs
How do we support young participants to become leaders?
Develop a young leaders training scheme Train adults in supporting young leaders Leadership development in all elements of your programme Specific leadership programme Give appropriate adult support to young leaders
Getting the most out of the young people with limited contact
Effective communication – social media Social media Work plans or projects being done on residentials
High turnover of young people and staff (young facilitators) – affecting relationship building and sustaining positive engagement
Bite-size / self-contained projects Good recording of work / projects / practice / findings Structured handover system allowing lots of overlap
We got examples of what others are doing in youth involvement. - Scouts
We don’t expect that these ideas will solve your problems completely, but hopefully they’ll give you some food for thought and you now know a couple of other youth organisations who have handled a similar challenge with useful experiences to share.
We explored methods of campaigning with UK Youth Joe’s workshop gave us the opportunity to consider the importance of campaigning. Campaigning can bring about much-needed differences in the lives of young people – and not just the white middle-class young people who have traditionally been engaged in campaigning. It also gives young people skills, confidence and new connections. Joe from UK Youth explained the various methods they used to support groups such as young refugees, LGBT youth, young travellers and young mums to campaign, including: Dance Mini-protestors A comic-book Interviews about young people’s own experiences In the workshop we created mock campaigns, thinking about the main stages we would go through to create the campaign, with the emphasis on being creative, well-researched and tailoring our messages to each key audience. If someone pledges to take action in support of your campaign, make sure they deliver on it! And if anyone needs to promote maths, healthy eating in schools, affordable public transport – or if someone threatens to build a 50-foot wall around the UK – we will be well prepared!
We designed the ideal process for funding and supporting projects led by young people at a local level Running a project in your own area is a great way to take a step up from being a young participant in your group to taking action, learning skills, having an impact in your community and living out the values of your organisation. Rebecca from Woodcraft Folk helped us explore how to match the benefits of youth-led projects to the young people themselves with the needs and aims of the organisations offering the funding and other support. In small groups, we discussed the many ways young people could apply for such a scheme, including Videos An online or offline presentation An interview with a youth panel Or – any format you like, as long as you answer the key questions and meet a clear deadline We also discussed ideas for what information should be gathered by the application process. The impact of the project, and the young people’s vision for it, was agreed to be important, and there was a lot of discussion around financial information – it’s always difficult to be precise when predicting the costs of things, whatever your age. NCVYS suggested offering each project a set contingency budget, eg 10 – 15%, in case of unexpected outgoings.
Leicestershire Woodcraft Folk Action Project Olive, Betty and Laura from a Woodcraft Folk group in Leicestershire presented two videos about their project, Send My Sister to School, and explained how they had raised money to support this educational cause. Through baking ‘cakepops’, running a stall at the local fair and washing cars, they developed their budgeting skills, their organisational skills and of course their baking skills. They’ve also been able to empathise with the situation of girls who have to do physical work all day, instead of getting to school. They’ve gained the support of their local MP, who has pledged to ask a question about the issue of girls’ education abroad in the House of Commons. - As for what they’d spend £1000 on, they Tweeted: Betty: Buy water pumps [so girls overseas don’t have to spend their day fetching water] Olive: Buy them text books Laura: Set up schools We will circulate their answers to the other questions they didn’t have time to cover as soon as we can! (Let us know if you want the recipe for cakepops—they may be willing to share it :)
It was good to meet others, especially since I’m a home worker. - Joe, UKYouth
We used a climbing wall style framework to explore how the Scouts involve young people at each level of their organisation – and there are a lot of levels! Did you know the Scouts have a badge for PR, and one for IT? After watching a fast-paced, informative video about what Scouts get up to (enough to chase away any old-fashioned notions we had about them), Fliss and Kirsty explained the huge and complex organisation that they’re empowering their young members to have a say in. Their aim is to create an organisation run by adults and young people in partnership by 2018. We were given snapshots of the roles available to young people in Scouts, and also examples of young people who take on these roles, and set the challenge of deciding how far up the climbing wall each of these roles and individual young people reaches – ie how thoroughly each young person is supported to participate in influencing their organisation. We all came up with different answers, and the discussion of people’s reasons for evaluating the roles differently was thought-provoking: are we fully empowering young people by offering them roles, with training and support, in our existing structure, or do we need to work with them to build the organisation’s structure in the first place? Is it okay for young people who choose a low or localised level of participation to stay on this lower rung of involvement? Kirsty and Fliss said it was interesting to see how other organisations evaluated the Scouts’ youth participation opportunities. It was just as useful for the rest of us to see our own work with young people in the same light.
We chose a way to continue sharing practice that doesn’t use too many resources Ignoring out post-dinner weariness, many of us gathered in the evening to explore how we can share youth participation methods and tools outside of face to face events. There was much agreement about the values of actually meeting people for a day or weekend of focussed practice-sharing, including getting away from the admin and management of day to day work, being able to ask questions about the ideas and processes behind other organisations’ practice, and generally celebrating the youth work we’re all so passionate about (rather than beating ourselves up because it’s never perfect!). What do we want to share, exactly? Look forward to a continuing discussion about good youth Ideas, concepts, the origins of our work participation practice in the Specific questions and challenges we think others might be able to help sector! with - Josh, NCVYS Stories and case studies – to show how we do things and also to learn how someone else has addressed a certain issue Practical tools - little on and offline things that will make work more effective We agreed that we’ll continue to use existing channels such as the UKYouth website and e-newsletter, and share ideas simply by staying in touch with each other individually. Mike offered to connect us all to the YMCA network where we can create a youth participation sub-group and also to explore getting youth participation practice onto the agenda of the Joint Agencies Group, which is a good forum for meeting other youth organisations (thanks Mike). We also made a list of useful online tools (we just couldn’t stop sharing practice!) Online march (used by UK Youth) Skype Event Brite and Amiando (for events) Pledge bank Surveymonkey Google Docs – for questionnaires (comparable to Surveymonkey but doesn’t keep your data) Kwick survey Doodle – for polls Google Alerts – for links to recently published interesting articles Ning NVIVO – tagging, searching and storing qualitative data (eg case studies) Unconference – everyone commits and contributes to online ‘conference’ discussions (make time and set up right systems) None of the above seemed to quite meet our need for the informal sharing of ideas and quick questions, without taking the time and budgets of big groups of people. So we (Mike again really) came up with the idea of socialising – just a simple evening in the pub, or a café, where we can talk about work. We do it anyway, why not do it with other organisations? There was general agreement to give this a go, and make sure it’s not all in London, as we aren’t all based there.
It was useful to compare what we all struggle with and help each other. Louise, Woodcraft Folk District Fellows
Can you remember what MESTUP stands for? Three young people from Woodcraft Folk’s District Fellows age group (16 – 20) introduced us to this youth-led peer-support project, which has been going strong for over a decade. MEST-UP stands for mediation, education, support team umbrella project J It takes the form of a group of trained young people and a safe space at a Woodcraft Folk camp or event, where other young people can go for emotional support , educational workshops and mediation if they have a disagreement with someone. The issues MEST-UP deals with include relationships, sexuality, drugs and mental health – as well as how to get your tent put up properly. We used two activities to explore communication. Firstly, we were challenged to explain a very garbled and complex scenario. Remembering the details was difficult, but for MEST-UP volunteers it’s even more important to identify what the young person themselves feels about the situation. Then we paired up to explore good and bad listening techniques. Louise and Katie used a role play to show us how a MEST-UP volunteer supports a young person, and invited us to step in and replace them at points where we thought the situation should be handled differently. Even in a role play, it felt like a big responsibility to step in and change the course of the conversation. Finally we split into two groups to debate a topic – feminism. Is the closure of a themed restaurant where women are employed for their looks, and dress in revealing clothes, a step forward for gender equality? Being forced to argue that restaurants like this should stay open to promote gender equality was a challenge, but once we started thinking about job opportunities in a recession, women fighting for the right to wear mini skirts and the restaurant being a clean, safe alternative to much seedier jobs, we were reminded that there are at least two sides to every issue – and it really helps to understand your opposition. The MEST-UP workshop highlighted the value of training to keep a youth-led project going, and flexibility, to ensure you meet the changing needs of your service users.
Open Space – an accessible way to hold discussions on a really broad theme We used Open Space to give people the chance to discuss anything under the umbrella of youth participation – things that had come up over the weekend, things that hadn’t got a mention at all, questions from the small and specific to grand and philosophical. Full notes of the discussions are at the end of this report. There were a handful of issues we didn’t get round to, which the group was happy to leave for another time. Being realistic about youth involvement ie. We can only do so much! Recruiting and finding new young people How do we engage 5 – 16 years olds in a residential youth forum? How big is the role of parents in youth involvement? If you have ideas and answers on these, feel free to email them round the group so the person who raised the issue can benefit.
We played quite a few games Pavla, Jo and Elvis ran games in the break times, which energised us and got us working together in different ways. We crowded onto paper islands, raced for keys, swayed round an imaginary racecourse and shook our limbs till we almost levitated. If you’d like a reminder of how any of the games are played, let us know! Feedback Woodcraft Folk will consider for future events: Give more information in advance about the age range that will be present Explain the sleeping conditions clearly Support workshops to be more exciting Offer a choice of workshops
Woodcraft Folk found the weekend really useful, and also really fun. We hope you did If y too. Thank you to Joe, Jo, Fliss, Kirsty, Louise, o or a u’d li k l Katie, Zoë, Rebecca and the Action Project e l th wee of t ken he s e full team for their workshops, talks and d, j essio wri te-u ust n s presentations. And thanks to ask from p fo . the r any everyone for participating with such insight and enthusiasm. Stay in touch :)
Background – how the event came about Young people aged from 11 – 18 devised the event and helped plan and run it, including: -The Woodcraft Folk Communications Group: 20 young people from Woodcraft groups around the UK who meet to decide, design and deliver Woodcraft communications internally and externally. - The TREE Steering Group: young people and adults representing various ages, groups and committees across Woodcraft Folk, who steer our youth participation programme. Young Reporters – young people trained to share news and stories around the organisation. We were clear from the start that the emphasis had to be on HOW we all do things – not just what we do – and that we should make the programme as relevant as possible to the needs of each organisation attending. We interviewed several before planning the programme, and tried to match up the needs we heard about with the workshops that various organisations were offering. We also explored what organisations most needed to get from practice-sharing events – and heard that the informal chats over coffee are just are useful for sharing tips as the structured workshops. We aimed to offer lots of different ways of sharing and capturing ideas so that nothing useful would be forgotten, and to build in lots of breaks so participants could follow up on ideas informally rather than just relying on the programmed activities.
Open Space notes How can we (as a national organisation) support youth participation on a local level? Model good behaviour at a national level Strong national framework Central event for training Regional training / roll-out Send out resources and put stuff online Have some screen-cast type videos to show key audience / target groups where to find stuff and what’s available Or address their needs eg where do I find group resources? Make resources attractive: ‘things to take to group’, participation subtly worked into activity plans Social media, Facebook Make it part of a partnership agreement
What online or other software are young people using for positive social action / to have fun creatively? Vimeo and Youtube for videos Tumblr – photo share – range of resources, easy updates, Twitter feed links, quotes, gifts, questions, abnormous [??], conversation page, hyperlinks QR codes – schools – stickers, stamps Reddit – feed - RSE Computer games
How to get into schools / businesses / organisations in order to carry out a workshop It’s difficult for volunteers to be allowed into schools, and staff don’t often respond / follow up a request to visit Offer something schools struggle to cover eg an assembly, a PSE lesson, a lesson for a particular class – make it clear what’s in it for them Map local schools and contact the head teacher of each, follow up with letter Go via Youth Council, who can nominate issues they’d like covered in school Speak face to face to business groups eg Rotary Clubs – address their board meeting where they have to listen Contact the Chief Executive of MIND (and other relevant Chief Execs) to get a professional reference / referral to mention to other organisations in letters Meet individual teachers informally and talk to them about what you’re offering that would benefit them and their class (eg is anyone taking time off for family reasons? They could benefit from mental health support) Use the MP who has pledged support – get him to deliver on his promises Talk to other organisations who regularly get into schools, to see how they do it, eg Talk to Frank Peer education project
Facebook & security issues No under 13s -Monsters? -Club Penguin Settings and controls -Hidden -Moderation Ground rules Staff accounts Training and expectations Open and clear - Link to offline Young people aware of offline effects, real world
Induction of young people on trustee boards and committees Don’t induct trustees well – don’t understand responsibility and role Isn’t just representation, equal Getting the right balance - Not just age - experience and interest too Access - Make board processes more accessible - Explain the papers Finding guidance - Talk to local Community Voluntary Services Pre-meetings: - Bust jargon - Explain anything that’s unclear - Encourage questions Different roles - Be clear what powers and responsibilities the committee has Shadowing - Treasurer – 18+ (in WCF District Fellows this isn’t a necessity) - One older and one young person in each role Processes and etiquette - Changing rep etiquette Age limitations – legal issues – need to understand legal responsibility How can we encourage under 16s who have an interest in larger projects / moulding the organisation? Initial consultation (locally?) before deciding events / activities Age groups discuss issues, then representatives from each group feed back to entire group Event with games all together, then split up for discussion and youth participation, so can ask questions in an age-appropriate way Regions too large so local easier Chaperoning young people – supported by peers and known adults / volunteers Delegations rather than representatives Encourage people to become ‘members’ so we have their contact info esp over 16s Venturer Committee (Woodcraft Folk’s 13 – 15 yr old committee representing their age group across the organisation) -Involved in programme for Venturer Camp -Can organise if they like, or just give ideas -Election of committees
How do we get national funding? Particularly for a movement of 16 – 21 year olds? What is available? Community Bank Trusts O2 – Thing Big Rotary Clubs Unltd Corporates / businesses Big South Bank? Cashback for communities – local only Funding for projects – eg making bread with kids ie any projects which benefit society Local events on a national level Fundraising Problems with regional – national issues Awards For All YCare International for small projects European Fund – European Youth Exchange Woodcraft Folk – positively advertise the fairer fare system How do we meet the needs of minority or marginalised groups? Faith Sabbath Friday night prayers Have a room Small things Attitude towards education Gender-splitting (female-only) Education Ask them Outreach Events in their area (eg PlayOut (Woodcraft project) – play games in local parks / fairs) Adapt your programming / projects for target groups Visiting Showing your openness – relax Policy and guidelines Respect and value Own choices Target minority groups Flexibility Range of methods Take needs into account when ready