Two young people from each organisation were trained to become Youth Action Leaders. They were tasked with leading, supporting and encouraging their group to design and deliver a project to improve their local area.
The project was delivered by Sarah Wayman-Smith, Richard Crellin and two national co-designers, Grace and Chloe, who worked to design the training and ongoing support for all the Youth Action Leaders. In this blog, Grace reflects on her role in the project.
Grace, can you tell us about your role as a co-designer?
As a co-designer on this project, I spent time creating check-in sessions for the Youth Action Leaders. These sessions would outline a different aspect of the social action cycle and would allow space for the Youth Action Leaders to reflect on the progress they had made in their projects. In my opinion, this space was crucial to ensuring effective problem solving between young people in the space, as well as ideas sharing.
Why do you think this project - and involving young people in social action - is important?
Young people have a right to freedom of expression (Article 13) and for their views to be respected (Article 12) as outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Projects like this are opportunities where these rights can be met and upheld. Social action projects enable young people to talk about and take action on issues that are relevant to them. The experiences within these projects are so important to upskilling young people, giving them opportunities they may not get elsewhere in their communities, enabling them to try new things and meet new people.
I personally feel there is more guidance and examples becoming available on how to do social action well and how to work with young people effectively. Youth Access’s Guiding Principles are a great place to start. The Guiding Principles were also co-designed by young people themselves and offer lots of advice on what good participation looks like. With resources like this, there’s no excuse not to give social action a go!
What have you most enjoyed doing as a co-designer?
Seeing the development of the Youth Action Leader’s projects has probably been what I’ve enjoyed most as a co-designer. The range of subjects and topics their projects covered was inspiring, as was the determination of the Youth Action Leaders to move their projects forward. What was achieved in quite a short space of time shows the difference we can all make when we put our minds to it.
What’s the key thing you have learnt through being a co-designer?
The time needed for a social action project. There are so many elements to a social action project that can each take quite a bit of time to set up and organise, which means it can be a while before you see any actual action occur. This Youth Action Pilot in particular was only given a limited amount of time, which does not account for changes, mistakes, and difficulties. My biggest recommendation would be to be prepared for your project to take a while, to not expect results immediately, and to celebrate the small wins, otherwise you may become disillusioned.
What advice would you give to other young people (or staff leading youth projects) who are thinking about making their own social action project a reality?
Structure, as well as time for reflection and evaluation, is crucial. Although you might not stick to a timeline, and things don’t always go to plan, an outline of the stages you are going to undertake in your social action project is key. Having an idea of what you want to achieve, what this looks like, and how you’re going to go about doing it will enable you to effectively reflect on whether this is going well, how your approach might need to change, and what your next steps are.
Profile
Grace is 21 years old and lives in Liverpool. She is a Peer Researcher for YPAS. In her spare time she is a student at the University of Manchester and likes exploring the city with her friends.
