Global Voice
What?
BYC supports young people to have a voice locally, nationally
and internationally. Through our international youth participation
programmes young people are able to take part in discussions and
influence decisions made at an international level.
Why?
The reasons we are interested in international participation are
mostly the same as the reasons we support participation in the
UK…
… Young people have a right to have a say on decisions that
affect them, and as our world gets more and more connected the
decisions that affect young people in the UK are often made at an
international level, for example in Europe, at the UN, through the
Commonwealth and at international conferences such as the G20 or
the climate change negotiations. We also believe that better
decisions can be made if young people are involved in making
them.
How?
We are currently running the UK Young Ambassadors project to
support effective and inclusive international youth
participation.
We are also bringing young people, organisations, funders,
academics, the UN and others together from across the world for a
conference on 'meaningful participation of young people in
international decision-making' (link).
Votes @ 16 - BYC is part
of the European Youth Forum
Expert Group on Votes at 16 campaigning to lower the voting age
across Europe.
Employment - BYC has
helped train and support young people in all 4 nations of the UK to
carry out research and consultation on youth unemployment to
contribute to European policy discussions
Poverty - BYC is on the
Steering Committee of the Young People in Development
(link) working group, which aims to put young people at the
heart of international development.
Global Action
What?
BYC supports young people to get involved in international
projects and campaigns.
why?
First off, members tell us, and research shows, that young
people care about and want to take action on global issues such as
poverty and climate change.
Young people all around the world are also tackling the same
issues as in the UK (unemployment, access to decision-makers,
transport, prejudice…) and can share and learn from each other's
experience, and even work together.
Finally, many of our members are international organisations or
have links with organisations and networks in other countries. Did
you know that … countries out of the 194 in the World have National
Youth Councils?
How?
See 'Our International
Programmes'
Global Learning
What?
BYC supports young people to learn about global issues and to
connect and share with other young people around the world.
Why?
It can be hard to make sense of issues like immigration or
conflict in the Middle East or climate change, or other complex
global issues - and a lack of understanding can sometimes make you
feel powerless to do anything.
In our interconnected world actions taken here in the UK can
impact people around the world, and action taken around the world
can impact us in the UK. To be effective in our campaigns and
actions we need to understand these influences, for example, how
the global financial system impacts on cuts to youth
services.
BYC also aims to support young people to campaign and take
action together, locally, nationally and internationally. This can
be strengthened by groups gaining a better understanding of each
other across cultures, communities or countries.
How?
We support young people to gain a greater understanding of the
world through interaction with other young people, rather than just
through the media and other sources. For example, we link with
other National Youth Councils.
We also offer training and workshops around local/global
connections and global issues for our members and other groups of
young people.
Finally, intercultural dialogue is an important part of most of
our international projects and we are working to make this part of
our work accessible to more young people in the UK.
