News
Nov 9, 2009
Positive Youth Engagment
Category: News | Posted by: admin
Beacon Theme Positive youth engagement Authority name South Norfolk District Council and Norfolk County Council Overview of Authority Since 2003, South Norfolk District Council has been working closely in partnership with Norfolk County Council (NCC), through the Youth and Community Service, to improve youth involvement in the democratic process.
We had carried out a major consultation exercise, called Up2U2, on the development of the community strategy, and the response rate from people under 25 was disappointingly low. We realised that we needed to gain support from younger age groups for the work we were doing, not least because the community strategy is long term, and would affect the lives of younger residents much more than older people.
Our response was to look at how better we could engage young people, not just in consultation exercises, but more broadly in the delivery of services in the area. We decided to work closely with the Youth & Community Service, who had better links with young people, groups and activities than we had at that time. The two councils agreed to jointly fund a post of Active Citizenship Co-ordinator, whose role is to do just that – work with young people to develop their interest in citizenship and engage with their communities. The post holder has youth work qualifications, to ensure that capacity was available to support young people and ensuring stronger two-tier partnership working through shared expertise and resourcing.
What has been achieved? Young people are a fundamental part of the communities in which they live and must have a voice in how those communities are supported and developed. Both councils have used the Hear By Right template in order to develop working with young people to encourage greater engagement in their community and the democratic process. We are changing the hearts and minds of officers and members to place young people at the core of democratic services.
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