The guiding principles for youth-led social action were created in collaboration with young people in social action roles at Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN), The Traveller Movement, Gendered Intelligence, Young Persons Advisory Service Liverpool and 42nd Street Manchester. In addition to the staff members in the organisations supporting them, as well as The Young Changemakers Programme (The Diana Award), Children in Need’s We Move Fund, No5 Young People and Free to Be You.
Written from their perspective, the resource outlines their reflections, advice and suggestions to lead real-world change on how to begin or boost your approach to youth-led social action.
We are young people based all over England and from diverse walks of life, who are involved in leading change within organisations, across our local communities and in national policy. We know, from first-hand experience, that young people – all young people - have the power and the passion to make real change in the world, and we want to see organisations doing more to support us in our efforts.
These guiding principles are designed for organisations that want to channel young people’s energy into impactful action, as well as young people who want to take on more of a leadership role in change-making spaces. We hope they can be applied in settings such as:
- Youth organisations and youth-led groups/projects
- Campaign groups
- NHS bodies
- Schools, colleges, universities
- Research institutions
- Local and national government and policymaking
Pledge to embed the principles
Now it’s over to you. We’ve provided this resource as a guide – it’s not a step-by-step instruction manual, because every organisation is different and every group of young people will want different things. We encourage you to use it as a framework and a way to kick-start the discussion with young people about how you can make your social action spaces more youth-led, inclusive and impactful. If you’re committed to working with young people to embed these principles, take the first step in your journey and sign our pledge.
As part of your pledge, you will receive campaign materials to celebrate your commitment and further support to supercharge your next steps.
