On 14th November, the British Youth Council held a drinks reception for the Friends of the British Youth Council and many of our supporters. It was a fantastic evening which saw alumni, donors, staff, trustees, partners and friends come together and celebrate all that they have made possible by supporting the British Youth Council!
After some initial welcome drinks, our guests were welcomed by Deputy Chair of the British Youth Council, Kyle Parks, who spoke eloquently about what the charity has achieved over the past year, including youth forum work with both the Bank of England and the NHS, and follow up work on the Youth Select Committee work. He also stressed how incredible it was to see British Youth Council alumni from many different years all in one room “connecting or reconnecting with each other and keeping relationships within the British Youth Council community strong”. He set out the future plans for the charity commenting; “we are on a great path, maturing as a charity, as we aim to move up a gear in our fundraising and partnerships.”
Rounding up the welcome speech he went on to introduce Mita Desai, our keynote speaker for the evening. An unyielding advocate for youth voice, Mita has been fighting for young people to be heard continually throughout her career. She spoke about her experience as a trustee on the British Youth Council board and later as Chair, describing it as a fantastic learning experience which shaped her future career. Specifically, Mita now manages the Young Trustees Movement for the Social Change Agency, with aims of doubling the number of Young Trustees by 2024. This work was directly influenced by Mita’s time on the board, which inspired her to see the potential of young people and the immense benefit of including their voices in decision-making.
She ended her speech by reminding attendees of the importance of lifting young voices up and making sure they are heard. She encouraged everyone to continue to support the British Youth Council to ensure we can carry on our work and keep empowering young people to speak up and make a change. Small regular donations to the British Youth Council are one of the most beneficial ways to support the charity into the future we’d love you to set up a regular donation.
A huge thank you to everyone who attended and made the evening so special, we hope to see you at future Friends of British Youth Council events!
If you missed this event but are interested in attending future events, please do make sure to sign up to the Friends of British Youth Council mailing list.
A massive thank you to all our donors for donating generously during our Big Give Christmas Campaign; your donations have been doubled and with gift aid we have raised a total of £4,220 and smashed the target!
This fantastic total means the British Youth Council can deliver the Youth Voice Leadership Development Programme, which will help young people to develop their leadership skills and increase their confidence to speak up on the issues they care about. In turn, young people are prepared to step up as leaders and create change locally, regionally and nationally. The programme also helps to fulfil our commitment to increasing the diversity of young people in leadership roles.
This was reflected by a beneficiary speaking of their time on the 2018/19 programme: “I now have the ability to publicly speak in a confident manner. It has opened so many more doors, I am now a confident leader.”
The Leadership Development Programme is just another demonstration of how the British Youth Council creates platforms and opportunities for young people to have their voices heard on the issues that are important to them. Through our various programmes, we develop young people’s confidence as well as their debating and leadership skills by giving them opportunities to voice and amplify their opinions. Your donations will enable us to support even more young people to become leaders of change!
On behalf of the British Youth Council Staff and Trustees, I want to say a heartfelt thank you for supporting the leaders of tomorrow.
Across the UK there is a fantastic youth social action network, this network can be in a variety of forms but I have personally experienced this in a number of different settings.
I have been a member of the NHS England Youth Forum which is an awesome network for making positive change from the point of view of young people who let’s face it are going to be using the NHS for years to come.
The NHS England Youth Forum has been able to positively make a difference in a number of different ways over the 12 to 18 months, through 3 campaigns ‘Share your NHS Story’; ‘Peer Support’ & ‘Educating the Educators’.
For myself, the ‘Share your NHS Story’ campaign has had the most impact within my local area because I have been able to influence positive change by encouraging young people to speak out about there NHS Story if they have one & have felt confident enough to share it with there peer group.
I have also been able to see a positive change in the way that young people are listened to by key decision makers not just within my home town of Hereford but also now on a national level through my work with the NHS England Youth Forum & Youth Advisory Panel at the Sport & Recreation Alliance.
When I launched The Young Person’s Network in 2017 my vision was to enable all children & young people in Herefordshire to be heard if they are aged between 11-18 and have a disability or additional need. 2 years on I think it is safe to say that decision makers in my county are effectively listening to marginalised young people.
I know this is happening is a positive way because my network managed to get 2 pavements lowered in a rural area of the county for a young person who is a wheelchair user and wanted to go out independently with friends.
She wasn’t able to before this change because of the lack of dropped kerbs in her local town so I was contacted about this issue and then liaised with key decision makers to influence this much needed change.
More recently I have worked with a group of young people to highlight the lack of dropped kerbs for those who are either in wheelchairs or have mobility issues. After months of high profiled campaigning, we have now had such an impact on key decision makers that more dropped kerbs are going to be added to roads where they are needed in Herefordshire.
To conclude: without young people speaking out and being heard by people in power across a number of organisations locally, regionally & nationally we wouldn’t have made a positive impact on the lives of generations to come, this is why since getting involved with the NHS England Youth Forum & SRA Youth Advisory Panel I have developed a serious passion for youth social action in the UK. Don’t be afraid to speak out & be heard.
The winners of the British Youth Council’s Youth Voice Star Awards, Bright Minds Big Futures, lead the way in making sure the voices of local youth are heard! Read about how they’ve crafted their way into Stockton-On-Tees’ council and are set to make waves with their ‘Big Plan’ campaign. Kameron Spence of Bright Minds Big Futures tells us more…
The story of Bright Minds Big Futures (BMBF) started about two years ago with just a handful of young people meeting together to get more involved within local events happening in Stockton-On-Tees.
It was after an increased interest of young volunteers that we were able to start a press team– where we would be invited to report on events run by the local council.
As a team, it was our mission to attract people from the local area to events by producing content and supplying a visually unique experience of the individual events to our audiences. One of our live streams reached 22k views, and very quickly BMBF gained its local fame.
Once the press team was up and running, we developed our game-changing ‘Social Action’ team. This gave young people in Stockton-On-Tees a chance to get more involved with local charities, whilst developing themselves personally and professionally. They were able to volunteer on causes that they cared about and gain skills in writing CVs and personal statements in return.
The interest in the social action team fuelled us to host our own gig at our local venue, showcasing the talent of our area and giving young people a safe place to hang out. Our most recent gig raised over £350, which all goes back into BMBF for equipment and future projects.
Finally, we then went on to develop our exceptional ‘Big Committee‘, a cabinet of young people who come together to address and debate issues facing the youth of our Borough.
The committee itself was designed to mirror the divisions within the council, where every young person at the table uses their leadership skills to direct their own department. The committee helps promote democracy to young people. They do this by voting on topics and debates that are relevant to them, and even electing their own chair to represent them. It gives young people a direct and effective way of expressing their opinions into local politics.
I have had the pleasure of being the elected chair of the committee for almost seven months now. This involves writing agendas, picking topics for debates and representing the committee at events & conferences all around the UK.
Our biggest achievement was having our very first youth manifesto called ‘The Big Plan’, which found its way to be reviewed and approved within Stockton Councils Cabinet. This plan, written up entirely by young people, lays out the specific issues the youth face locally and nationally. It states the ways we wish to tackle the issues and the support we will need from councillors and local MPs to do so.
The plan had tremendous praise from each elected member of Stockton’s council and the director, resulting in the pairing up of every Big Committee member with an official.
All of us at BMBF love the work we do and think it is a wonderful way to get young people involved in politics and in influencing decision-making on policies that affects them directly.
The support from Stockton Council has helped us tremendously in giving young people a voice and they stand as an exemplifier to other councils around the U.K.
We are proud of all that we have achieved so far and look forward to the future.
Keep up-to-date on Stockton-On-Tees’ ‘Big Action Plan’ through their Facebook updates and tweets!
The 2nd EU youth conference of the trio presidency of Romania, Finland and Croatia was held in Helsinki, the capital of Finland over the course of the 1st– 3rd of July. Hosted jointly between the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, the theme of the conference was how we can create opportunities for youth and how youth work meets the needs and expectations of young people all over Europe.
Throughout the course of the conference delegates, including myself, heard lectures from intellectuals and senior youth workers on how youth work can be reformed and the different approaches that countries across the continent use in doing youth work in their countries as well as about how training for youth workers can be developed, focused on practical work with young people and using case studies more effectively in doing young.
As part of the conference, as it tied in with the 6th Cycle of the EU youth dialogue, there were forums for youth delegate to engage in dialogues with decision makers, such as (at the time) Finland’s Minister for Science and Culture, Annika Saarikko[1] (who opened the conference with a speech about the part that young people have to play in the future of Europe), the EU commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Tibor Navracsics[2] as well as academics in the field of Youth work such as Dr Marco Kovacic from the Zagreb institute for social research, Dr Tomi Kiilakoski from the Finnish Youth Research Society and Dr Howard Williamson from the University of South Wales.
In order to take a wider approach to the theme of the conference, delegates were split into groups each focusing on a different aspect of how youth work meets the expectations and needs of young people and how it can create opportunities for youth. I, myself, was in the group that focused on accessibility in youth work, we focused on how we can make inclusive physical spaces for youth work to take place in and how we can use inclusive communication in youth work as well as how you work provisions and services can be accessed. The four other groups focused on Sustainability in youth work, Multicultural youth work, (focusing on how to create inclusive societies in youth work and how we can promote cultural diversity) Digitalisation and young people (as well how it can tie in with youth work) and the Future of youth work and the employability of young people.
As part of this, delegates took part in field visits to local Finnish institutions linked to the themes that each group were focusing on, my group were visited by young representatives of the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired[3] as well as Aseman Lapset ry and the other group visited groups tied in with their topics, these groups were Sustainability in youth work- Kumpula School Garden, Luonto Liitto ry- The Finnish Nature League and Changemaker; Multicultural Youth Work- The Non-Toxic Project, Dancemaker Academy and Sámi Siida ry; Digitalisation and Young People- The Finnish Media Education Society, Verke- Centre of Expertise for Digital Youth Work and Digitalents and Future of Youth Work- Ohjaamo Helsinki, Kreisiryhmä and Value based Leadership Education[4]
In closing, the EU Youth Conference in Finland was a productive and engaging one, it was refreshing to hear the opinions of different young people from across Europe about different issues that affect them and others across the continent, I’m looking forward to seeing how we build on the recommendations from the conference in Zagreb next March!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annika_Saarikko
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibor_Navracsics
[3] https://www.nkl.fi/en/english
[4] https://presidencyportalinformal.consilium.europa.eu/file-viewer?id=627c788a-6f26-41fe-bf7c-159d8472369c
I heard about the British Youth Council from one of my colleagues at The Careers & Enterprise Company, who offered me the opportunity to get involved in their latest project on improving the work experience in UK. I was thrilled to learn more about the work of the British Youth Council, which is to empower young people across the country to use their voices.
At The Careers & Enterprise Company, our mission is to inspire and prepare young people for the world of work, by building networks, backing the Gatsby Benchmarks and supporting Careers Leaders. For these reasons, and also because not long ago I was a young person experiencing or looking for work experience myself, it only felt natural for me to want to offer my skills and expertise to this project.
I worked with five other members in the Action Group, between the ages of 16-25. They had the same purpose: to find new ways to improve how the work experience is delivered by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across the UK. The way we did this was by designing a toolkit for SMEs, called ‘Unleashing the potential of work experience: A guide for SMEs’, explaining what good quality work experience is, what young people expect from it and the ways SMEs can deliver it. Each member of the Action Group brought a different set of skills and experiences to the table which really made a difference and added a personal touch to this toolkit.
As I currently work in the Marketing team at The Careers & Enterprise Company – and am being trained to become a graphic designer, the idea of designing a new publication really made me enjoy the time spent brainstorming design options and I was more than happy to offer my expertise in this area.
We attended a three-day residential where we approached multiple ideas, researched what work experience currently looks like and drafted the content for the future toolkit. We also played social games, to get to know each other and to learn how to work together effectively.
In State of the Nation 2019 – a recent report from The Careers & Enterprise Company, it celebrates the improvement of careers education and highlights that at least 2 million young people are now receiving an encounter with an employer every year. These are brilliant outcomes for young people across England – but we know there is still work to do.
During the residential, we had a video call with Emelia Quist from Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) who told us more about the barriers SMEs face when it comes to offering work experience to young people. These included time, lack of financial resources and a general misunderstanding of what it is needed from them in order to provide the best quality work experience.
Taking this information into account when creating the toolkit, we incorporated statistics, myth busters and case studies showcasing personal opinions from young people who had previous good and bad work experiences.
We also had the chance to speak with and interview other young people from across the country, in a workshop that we have done since the residential. Hearing from young people gave us a much deeper insight into the way they perceive work experience and how SMEs can further help with careers guidance.
We focused on finding five main areas that will guide SMEs to offer better quality work experience. These included:
- Preparation and planning
- An enabling and inclusive environment
- Skills development and support
- Feedback and evaluation
- Follow-up
Additionally, we included a bank of resources that SMEs can use, such as a feedback form, a daily planner for the young person, questions the employers should ask themselves when engaging with young people – but also practical actions to support them.
The toolkit, in its final form, aims to demystify careers education and guidance for SMEs. It also aims to offer some guidance and advice to employers who are willing to offer work experience to young people across the country.
I believe this project has the power to make a difference in the way employers see and deliver work experience in the UK. I am certain of this because this toolkit has been created by a group of motivated young people who are extremely passionate about their futures. I was extremely lucky to meet so many young people who want to experience the real world of work, gain new skills, knowledge and become better versions of themselves. I also hope that SMEs will find in this toolkit the support they need in order to offer better quality work experience in the future.
It’s been a fantastic opportunity to meet like-minded people, who have the same mission, which is to improve the culture of work. It also made me realise how important it is for young people to use their voices, their experiences and to fight for every change they want to see in the world.
I’ve learnt how to communicate better and engage with different people with so many opinions, views and experiences by stepping out of my comfort zone and participating in this journey. The members of the British Youth Council really made sure we all felt respected, valued and safe during this project which I think is very important and it really helped us when putting together the best version of this toolkit.
On Saturday 21st September 2019, I had the privilege of travelling to the United Nations Climate Action Summit as the UK’s nominated youth delegate. This summit, occurring immediately before the United Nations General Assembly that began on Monday 23rd September, was intended to offer a platform to young people to meaningfully engage with decision-makers to create a greener and sustainable future. As the UK’s youth delegate, my role at the summit was to share the views of young people from the UK with senior officials, advocating for positive climate action on your behalf.
The fact that I departed for the summit on Friday 20th September was significant for two reasons. Firstly, and most obviously, this was the day when over four million (yes, you heard that right – four million!) incredible people from across the globe took to the streets in protest, demanding urgent action in order to save our planet. Secondly, this was the day that the British Youth Council’s Youth Policy Group submitted its review on government policy in the areas of waste and recycling, climate change and youth engagement to the government departments responsible for protecting the planet. In this review, we highlighted young people’s environmental priorities and concerns while also recommending methods that the government could explore to engage more effectively with young people. It was the sentiments echoed in this report, and by young people on the streets, that I carried into the summit with me.
So now onto the summit itself! It was simply incredible. 1,200+ young people from over 120 countries all united by one purpose – climate action. At the summit, I attended workshops on all manner of issues, learning about the link between climate change and young people’s human rights, about the steps we are taking to transition to the use of clean energy and about how it is those who pollute least who are impacted most. I’ve summarised my key takeaways below that I would like to share with you all, to give you a flavour of some of the recurring themes that came from the discussions I was involved in:
Change is happening!
During the summit, I heard how major employers are becoming more environmentally conscious because this makes their businesses more attractive to prospective employees, how major polluters such as the shipping industry are committing to becoming net-zero in terms of their emissions and how the views of young people are being considered in policy-making decisions at the highest levels. It’s clear to me that the tireless campaigning and passion of young people is beginning to have an impact and create meaningful change. This makes it more important than ever that we continue to campaign, striving to increase the pace of change and change the attitudes of everyday people.
Individual actions matter – don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise!
Often, we fall into the trap of believing that our individual actions are insignificant, believing we do not have the individual power to create change. Being surrounded by young people from right across the globe and hearing about the impact they have had in their local communities really highlighted to me how one person can make an impact. You never know who is watching, so we must continue to always lead by example and inspire others to change their ways. The most powerful demonstration of this can be seen through the story of a young woman who requires no introduction. In August 2018, Greta protested outside the Swedish parliament alone. A year later and 4million people joined her. You’re never too small to make an impact on the world. As climate activist and avid explorer, Robert Swan pointed out: ‘the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that somebody else will save it.’ So, don’t wait for other people to lead, be advocates for change within your own lives – then you will automatically inspire others!
Young people are not only being heard but are leading the way – we need to keep at it!
The event, held at the UN HQ, began with a panel of leading youth activists from around the world (featuring the one, the only Greta Thunberg) who were discussing their priorities for the planet. Interestingly, the UN Secretary-General (the most senior official within the UN) joined the panel as a ‘keynote listener’, sending a powerful signal that the UN was open not only to working with young people but to actually allowing them to drive conversations. This theme continued throughout the day, with young innovators pitching technological solutions to the climate crisis, such as the storage of data inside plants (how cool!) to panels of industry experts. The fact that the UN is ready to work alongside young people to drive change is a positive sign and is something that should give us hope. We are leaders in this fight, and we have to keep leading!
So, they’re my takeaways. But, how can you get involved? Remember that small individual actions can have a global impact. Your actions matter as much as anybody else’s does. Why not ditch the car and walk when you can? Could you commit to having a day each week free of single-use plastics? Try shopping for second-hand clothes to reduce the amount of ‘fast fashion’ items to the landfill? Or how about lobbying the decision-makers of our country, and of our world, to encourage them to create pioneering climate policies? We can all have an impact, and each and every one of us has a part to play. Let’s go save the world! (literally!)
There’s a common misconception both in the charity sector and in society as a whole that a big impact can only really be delivered by a big charity. Yet I believe it’s the defining aspects of small charities – critical work delivered jointly by members, staff and trustees, underpinned by a close working relationship between trustees and staff – are often presented as a challenge when in reality, they’re an opportunity. I often think this mentality is applied to small charities by those from the outside, who don’t understand that some of the most common aspects shared by small charities are not only their biggest strength, but often their secret ingredient to success.
The British Youth Council is the National youth council for young people in the UK, running everything from the NHS Youth Forum, balloting over one million 11-18 year olds in Make Your Mark in the summer, and co-ordinating the official UK Youth Parliament; so, it might surprise some to know that we are indeed a small charity!
The brilliant thing about celebrations such as #SmallCharitiesWeek is that it gives charities like the British Youth Council the opportunity to shout loudly and proudly about the impactful work our members, staff and trustees do day in, day out. And it’s these three fundamental groups of people that are the driving force in ensuring a charity as small as us, can continue to punch consistently above our weight, empowering young people to be heard on the issues that affect us time and time again.
In small charities, members can more easily influence the vision of the charity. We launched our new strategy in 2018, consulted scores of young people and member organisations, and can confidently say that our strategic aims are representative of, led by, and being delivered in the best interests of our members. Staff are more likely to be in tune with the relevance of our mission to both our members and to the decision makers we’re trying to influence. On a daily basis, I see the wonderful staff at the British Youth Council driving our work to ensure we are on target and rapidly pacing towards our stated mission: “work with others to amplify young people’s voices to create an environment in which young people views are valued, sought and acted upon”. There aren’t many charities with such a small staff team who can empower young members to reach over one million young people and find out their top ten priorities each year – before then ensuring those priorities are delivered by young people to everyone from Number 10 to local councils.
I truly believe that when a charity is small enough that the trustees know multiple members, volunteers and regional leaders by name, and more can call them close friends, it becomes easier to measure if the charity as a whole is actually sticking to our values. Youth led, Collaborative, and Inclusive – the three values every member of our staff team and trustee board is signed up to ensuring the British Youth Council continues to be; I’m confident that if we were to divert from these at any point we would be informed and challenged at the speed of light by our members.
This week has been an opportunity to show how the British Youth Council consistently exceeds even our ambitious targets, something I believe we’ve been a little to hesitant to be proud of doing in the past, but if there’s one thing that has reaffirmed for me it’s this; the British Youth Council is empowering young people to be heard on the issues that matter most to us, and hence change our lives for the better, every single day, with a much smaller resource base then many expect. If that’s not a big impact for a small charity, I don’t know what is.
I never pictured myself as a trustee before I became one. I thought of trustees as old, balding white men in bad suits sitting around big boardroom tables in stuffy rooms. And it’s true that there are lots of charity boards in the UK that don’t look like the communities that the organisations work with or represent.
But, the British Youth Council is so different. The group of people handling the governance, steering the strategic direction and managing the risk of the charity that means so much to so many people – are all young people.
Sitting on the board was not where my British Youth Council journey began though, I started with the UK Youth Parliament in 2014 when I was first elected as a Deputy Member of Youth Parliament for Plymouth, a year later I was elected as a Member of Youth Parliament and was fortunate enough to get to speak in the House of Commons about transport. An issue that is incredibly important for my largely rural and underfunded region – the south west. When I finished my term as a Member of Youth Parliament in February 2016, I thought my journey with youth voice was over. I knew that the British Youth Council board was made up of young people, and one of my region’s former Procedures Group reps sat on the board at the time.
When I was first encouraged me to run for the board, I laughed. This was something I thought of it as something other people did – people who had degrees, people who lived in London. I thought a trustee was everything but me.
It took a lot of encouragement, it’s true – first I had to overcome my own hesitations about my ability, I had to look at how the skills I had gained through two years in the Youth Voice programme could serve me on the board of a national charity. I found skills that I would need in places I never expected. I was scared that I would need a degree, but none was necessary. I was elected on to the board just before my first year at university.
Location was always a concern of mine, I live now, as I did then, in Plymouth. If you ask anyone from Plymouth or the wider south west what it’s like to live in our part of the world they will tell you that it’s beautiful, but the transport infrastructure is non-existent. With a four-hour train journey to London, on a line that’s prone to falling in to the sea, I convinced myself that being a trustee wasn’t something I could physically do.
But not living in London hasn’t hindered my ability to full participate in being on the board, in fact -the board is trialling new ways of hosting meetings, via phone ins and skype that mean that your location doesn’t matter. You can take part in a board meeting from Plymouth, Newcastle or rural Scotland.
My time on the board has allowed me to do things and meet people I never thought possible, from working on the British Youth Council’s new strategy that sets the direction of the charity, to representing British young people at a conference in Malta. The support and guidance that you get on the board is amazing, I have learnt so much from the fellow trustees who devote their time the British Youth Council.
When you join the board, you get given a buddy, someone to help guide you through life on a trustee board. Being a trustee can be hard, working through a budget line by line with no background in finance, seems daunting but your fellow trustees are never more than a message or email away, and you get full training during your board induction. However, being a trustee of this amazing charity has shown me so much about the passion, courage and determination of young people. Getting to meet alumni, who through the Friends of the British Youth Council network, are sharing their stories and memories of their time with the British Youth Council make you realise quite how special and important the British Youth Council is.
That’s why if you are 25 and under, with a passion for youth voice, I encourage you to put your name forward to be a trustee of the British Youth Council when applications open this year. If you aren’t considering standing yourself, then think about someone who you think would make a great trustee – someone with a sharp focus on detail but who never loses sight of the bigger picture. It can be scary to put yourself out there, it takes courage, but youth voice has never been more important.
This April I visited Brussels for my fifth and final assembly meeting as the UK Young Ambassador to the European Youth Forum, which I attended alongside Lucia Jones. At this meeting, which brings together around 150 young representatives from across Europe, we usually discuss and pass resolutions on continent-wide issues as well as elect people to represent us on other platforms and advocate for youth rights. At this particular meeting, we discussed a couple of policy papers which essentially did as they say on the tin – one on demanding urgent climate action and the other on better youth representation – though perhaps surprisingly the second one did not pass through this time round for more technical reasons. We also admitted a new organisation, the Junior Chamber of International Europe, to become an Observer member, and were treated to a speech from the Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium on why young people were important and the future (Shock! Gasp!).
However, it now being late May, I have since suffered the excruciating pain of another round of exams, and am struggling now to write beyond the clichés of an essay. Luckily though, the subject which I would love to talk briefly to you about now are clichés – specifically those which are dredged up time and time again within the world of youth advocacy, apparently present across the whole of the continent, and in my opinion deeply dangerous to the future of improving our lives. I have already mentioned one of these clichés – that youth is the future – and at the heart of the statement it is not at all wrong and incredibly true. But claims like this, which also include statements like better rights are the answer to our problems, and that more funding is the solution, though they hold a lot of truth, are unoriginal and a sign of uninspired thinking within our networks. Unfortunately, I’ve seen (and written) ‘social media’ or ‘networking’ or ‘funding’ on a group Flipchart as the solution to our current problems more often than I’ve had hot dinners. It is true that social media is an issue, for example, the European Youth Forum has 144,000 followers on Facebook and rarely musters more than a dozen likes on a post – simply wanting more of what we already have shown to be ineffective is ineffective. Within discussions, these lazy solutions to problems shut down debates at the same place they have for decades. They stop with a cliché, not a point – giving us long-standing soundbites which politicians can regurgitate to us with very little consequences compared to supporting a solid policy position. Therefore, we must really all push to challenge ourselves everyday on not reusing the same jargon for the issues we face as, eventually, it will lose all of its meaning.
In all honesty, I must now tell you, though you may have already gleaned this from the descriptions above, this meeting at times did get a little tedious… albeit with two very significant exceptions. The first was the election of our very own Pegah Moulana, one of the most skilful, committed and engaging young people that currently represents the British Youth Council, who was re-elected to the Advisory Council of Europe to help oversee certain aspects of that organisation including the European Court of Human Rights. In particular, Pegah has these past two years already been working on improving the condition of young refugees and fostering Middle Eastern-European dialogue. Her election this year coincided too with a proposed 100% cut to the youth programme of the council, so now more than ever we need to be sure to support her to hold up the infrastructure of protecting our rights. This is especially important in the context of this being one of the only European institutions which isn’t tied to the European Union. If we can do so, I am certain her work will continue to show that international youth advocacy does generate real-world positive change and can bring people together who otherwise would have been separate.
The other exception was the address made to us by the 23 year-old Yasmine Ouirhrane who was 2019’s Young European of the Year. She told us of the racism she received growing up in rural Italy to an Italian mother and a father who had immigrated to Italy, and also facing discrimination throughout her life as a woman. However, she harnessed the negative energy people had dealt out to her and reshaped it into a passion for creating a fairer and more equal society at a European level. Now living in France, she was instrumental in organising the huge Yo!Fest last year in Strasbourg as well as working with disadvantaged groups in the city year round. Her example is one which we should all seek to emulate as it shows that if you want to improve society at a European level we must change lives at a local level with community projects – not the other way round. It is without a doubt the culmination of all the local projects across Europe which drives forward the positive change in our society – and that the European Youth Forum must always stand to protect the vital funding, and political support, on which many of them depend.