September 2008 Archives

Melody Hossaini writes:

I’ve not long got back from Indonesia – a trip that’s left me pondering some interesting questions about the cultural dimension to young people’s voice and influence.

Having previously gone to the Far East with the British Council to prepare young people’s input to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Bali 2007, I was invited back to facilitate project management and leadership training for young people from all across East Asia and the Pacific.

We took them through the theoretical sides of project management such as the Kolb cycle of reflecting and learning from experiences,  and also looked closely at leadership  –  questions such as who do we look up to and why? What are the good qualities of a leader? What qualities do we have in us which we can strengthen for leadership?

  

Melody Hossaini (fourth from right) with young climate change activitists in Indonesia

 

All of the learning was then linked to the participants’ own projects and we rounded the week off by allowing the participants space to think about how they would take their projects forward.

In one of the first sessions we undertook, I did the exercise ‘Take a stand’ with the participants. This is an exercise I carry out frequently here in England with both groups of adults and young people. One of the statements which was put to the participants was ‘children and young people know what’s best for them’. The participants are then asked to individually take a stand next to the face which corresponds with their answer- strongly agree? Agree? Strongly disagree? Disagree?

The East Asian young people were almost evenly split on this, but almost all of them highlighted the importance of the role of parents and that a lot of respect should be paid to parents and their wishes. This was not something that had ever been mentioned by the young people when  I had posed the same statement to in England. I found this an interesting cultural perception.

The other very interesting observation for me was that I was seeing how almost difficult it was for some of the young people of East Asia to offer points that were controversial. I could see that they were not used to questioning authority or stating something at the risk of causing tension in the group.

This again, was generally dissimilar to working with groups in England who felt free to state their views despite those things. I reasoned that perhaps this was because in their upbringing, respect had always been extremely important.

When discussing this with the group (as we did to reflect on how we were learning), one of the young people said to me, ‘it’s not that we are too respectful or do not have views - but sometimes we just don’t know how to word it in English’. I felt that moment to be an extremely valuable inter-cultural dialogue. All in all I was extremely impressed with the young people’s warmth and genuine nature of attitude they brought to their projects and I look forward to continuing to work with them.

The experience also made me reflect - there are young people in the UK with views they want to express but require the right cultural environment if they are to feel comfortable expressing them. Perhaps in Youth Work Week we can all resolve to reach out further and ensure that we further develop meaningful ways in which young people can exercise influence and fulfill their rights under Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

 

  

Melody Hossaini, Project Officer, The National Youth Agency

 

In Hartlepool for Youth Work Week 2008 the youth service  has been working with the Hartlepool Youth Parliament to plan a young people's celebration night called “The Future's Bright the Futures Young People”. There are going to be nine categories and an awards ceremony is to be held on 4 November.

Further information from participation worker Jonathan Simpson on 01429 261427.

The good people of Halton have sent more details of the events they are planning for the week - all highlighting the increasing role young people are playing in the running of their services.

West Runcorn Youth Club Members Committee and Management Committee will merge and young people will be formally adopted onto the new committee. The young people will showcase their achievements over the past three  years, including gaining funding for a multi use sports area, running DJ and MC skills courses, and gaining the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

 

East Widnes Area Youth Forum and Kingsway Youth Club Members Committee will be holding an Open Day to showcase the achievements of young people in improving local youth service provision and enhancing the quality of youth facilities in Victoria Park.

 

Ditton Youth Club Members Committee will be celebrating their role in improving the youth club environment. This included a graffiti art mural project and setting up and running a Fair Trade café. Castlefields and Windmill Hill Youth Squad will be celebrating their successes in leading environmental improvements to their community. Murdishaw Youth Club Members Committee will showcase the More than Hoods positive images campaign that aims to challenge the stereotypes of young men and “hoodies”

 

West Widnes Area Youth Forum and Chapelfields Youth Club Members Committee will celebrate their achievements in improving the quality of the youth club. This included the refurbishment of the community centre and advising on improvements to the youth club programme.

 

For more information contact:  Stefan Cadek, Youth Service Operations Manager - stefan.cadek@connexions-gmerseyside.co.uk

 

 

 Fran Farrar writes:

 

There’s only four more potential Youth Work Weeks until 2012.

 

So what you might not unfairly ask? Well I for one would like to get people thinking and acting soon as possible about ways in which young people’s voice and influence can help inspire our Olympic year. In particular I’d like to get people thinking about the Cultural Olympiad.    

 

Not everyone has the ability to jump, run, swim or whatever to Olympic standards and as such, many young people will feel that prospects for their sporting involvement in the 2012 London Olympics are somewhat limited. But the Olympics are not only about sporting achievements. The Cultural Olympiad, originally an integral part of the ancient Greek’s games, has been reenergised by the modern Olympic movement with the idea that mind, body and spirit should be celebrated at the games. London 2012 wants to make this a reality and make the Olympic games a huge enlightening, celebratory, feel-good event covering more than bulging muscles, sweat and groin strains.

 

I have been working with MLA (Museums, Libraries and Archives Council) to ensure that the participation of young people is at the heart of one of the Cultural Olympiad projects – Stories of the World, the International Exhibition Programme. Working with young people across the UK and in Scotland I have (yet again) been bowled over by the enthusiasm, creativity and innovation of young people who want to be involved.

 

No doubt, many adults will say that young people aren’t interested in museums, galleries and archives – but go and ask them! Young people want to feel associated with their past, they want to see their own unique cultures celebrated publicly, and they want these public services to respond to their lived lives. The Cultural Olympiad projects can give young people a space, a voice, a focus for their ideas of culture. Aren’t these ‘services’ present to celebrate community? And as such don’t they therefore need to reflect all of the community, including young people?

 

What might a modern Cultural Pentathlon include?  Rapping, filmmaking, ; broadcasting, murals and creative writing? Or maybe still further we can offer young people the opportunity to take part in the Participation Pentathlon of dialogue,  peer consultation,  design,  delivery and strategic decision making? If 2012 truly aims to leave a legacy for young people then the Cultural Olympics offer an excellent opportunity for young people to make a difference for themselves and their community which will act as an exemplar for generations to come.

 

Fran Farrar,  development officer – participation team, NYA

 

Moray Council have been in touch to tell us that they are planning a range of local events reflecting young people's ideas and interests, and are looking at a Moray-wide event that will include an exhibition of camera-phone images representing young people's lives in the the area.  This could later tour across Moray.  Some 15 young people from Elgin Youth Cafe have met with workers to help develop plans.    

Tim Burke writes:

 

Well it's taken a while longer than we'd planned, for which apologies, but the information pack for Youth Work Week 2008 is now out. The 37-page document contains a wide range of materials designed to give ideas for the week and of course to more generally support the development of voice and influence work over the next 12 months. Content varies from case studies of how young people are influencing decisions in their community and helping create change for themselves and others to a summary of how recent public policy is encouraging young people's participation. There are also some sample posters you may be able to use and lots of suggestions for further reading

No hard copies are available, but the pack can be downloaded, printed and circulated freely. Get the document at The NYA website. If you have problems donwloading the document, send me an email and I can send you a pdf version.     

One of the sections in the pack includes information on using the Act by Right and Hear by Right standards. It includes a number of short case studies using the What's Changed template, a simple tool for capturing the difference made by the involvement of young people. Here's a example of the sort of thing you can find:   

 

What's Changed

Organisation: The Welland Youth Group, Worcestershire

Issue: A place to be

The situation: A proposal to the local parish council by young people to use a bus stop as a meeting place attracted a lot of opposition. There were concerns about noise, litter and behaviour. Coincidentally, the church council felt that the local church building, the undercroft, was underused and offered young people a space to use as an alternative site.

What children and young people said: “If we had not got the undercroft we still would have had to hang out on the street corners and we would still be moaned at. All the community learned things from what we achieved. Without the undercroft I’m sure the idea of making a Tarmac football pitch/basketball court would never have arisen.”

What’s changed? Young people and the development group of the local church have worked together to agree a code of conduct. Young people decorated the room while the church development group secured funding. The young people are self-governing a team of volunteers from the church to open and close the building and who are on call for emergencies. Worcestershire Rural Youth Service uses the undercroft as a primary contact point for local young people.

Every Child Matters outcomes: Making a positive contribution; enjoying and achieving.

 

Why not look at some of the work you've done and send us a What's Changed example too?