An independent evaluation of the Make Our Rights Reality project has found evidence of positive benefits, both for young people and organisations that took part.
Co-ordinated by Youth Access, Make Our Rights Reality (MORR) was a pioneering national programme designed to equip young people to tackle and take control of their challenges and improve services in their communities by connecting them with their rights and responsibilities. The project took a unique integrated approach to public legal education (PLE), youth participation and social action focussed on disadvantaged young people in community settings.
The independent evaluation, conducted by the Centre for Youth Impact, found that the project led to numerous positive outcomes. For young people, positive impacts included:
- Improved advocacy skills and an increased sense of agency;
- Improved ability to work with others;
- Improved well-being.
For organisations the most widely reported impacts were:
- Enhanced organisational practice around taking a youth-led approach;
- Enhanced knowledge of rights-based approaches;
- Deeper engagement of young people.
The evaluation also highlights areas where the project can provide broader insight for the sector on issues including:
- Building the legal capability of young people through Public Legal Education;
- Supporting young people to undertake high quality social action projects;
- Supporting and enabling young people to advocate for their rights through a national platform;
- Reaching the young people who need support the most.
The Make Our Rights Reality project delivered training on human rights and how to use them to young people across the UK. Resources produced for the training are now available to download for youth organisations that want to use them in their own PLE activities. The project also spawned the young person-led Our Minds Our Future campaign, which empowers young people to stand up for the human right to mental health.
Youth Access will be using the evaluation to help us plan and improve our participation activities and projects – and we’re also pleased to be publishing it to share the learning with our members and the wider youth sector.