I
mentioned a few weeks ago that we were looking to develop a programme around
the “Voice of Youth.”
Last week I had another good meeting with a statutory body want to hear the concerns of young people to ensure that they are being addressed appropriately. It is widely known that this generation of young people are less interested in party politics than previous generations. What perhaps is less well-known is that they are more engaged in society and societal issues than their parents’ generation.
Last week I had another good meeting with a statutory body want to hear the concerns of young people to ensure that they are being addressed appropriately. It is widely known that this generation of young people are less interested in party politics than previous generations. What perhaps is less well-known is that they are more engaged in society and societal issues than their parents’ generation.
Meanwhile,
it feels to me like there is the will amongst lots of people within the
statutory sector to get young people's voices listened to as part of the
process of designing services. We are approached about once a month by
statutory bodies and other organisations wanting to have young people’s
opinions.
Some
may be tokenistic but I believe many are genuine. However there is often a mismatch between the
ways in which young people want to talk and the ways in which statutory bodies
want to hear. The traditional focus groups and surveys that have worked in the
past will not necessarily appeal to the current multimedia, socially networked
generation who have more choices of how to spend their time than ever before. One
of the important aspects in all of this is making sure that young people are
given some feedback after they’ve give their voice, so that they know what has
happened as a result.
This
project is taking us a while to develop, rightfully so. I feel like I am on a
treasure hunt, gradually gathering together clues on how we can make this
happen in partnership with others. We are wondering about whether to create an
interactive play or road show type event that can be taken to different youth
settings in the county on, say, an annual basis, to collect young people’s
opinions. The events would collect information on behalf of a variety of
statutory bodies and other organisations. One of the criteria for the design of
the events would be basing it on rigorous research methodologies, not just collecting
a few sound bites. If you have heard of a similar thing elsewhere, do let me
know.
Cheers,
Cate.
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