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Youth Consultation
Peterborough Youth Service
2003 - 2004 Report
How can we take forward and
improve what we’ve done?
Strengths
The Young People’s Office is a huge step forward into the partnership work
between young people and adults. It builds very strong bridges of trust and
respect between young people and adults. The young people that work here are
devoted to the work they do and have very strong ideas and views. This makes the
Young Peoples Office very unique.
Youth Consultation project is a forward-thinking way of involving young people
in the decision making process. It supports young people in having a voice in
the adult world. From being part of the Youth Consultation team we have seen our
views and ideas taken into action. It is a fantastic idea as it gives young
people a role in their society that they might not usually have much of an
opportunity to take. It lets them be a stronger part of their community and lets
them exercise their rights to shape their city.
The young people that participate in Youth Consultation are no different to
anyone else - the silent majority of young people are neither overachievers nor
underachievers, but by their collective action work together to have both their
own and other young people's voices heard. As a team, we take action to include
adults in understanding and hearing our views. The Young People’s Office is a
unique opportunity for young people as a process; whilst many organisations are
focused upon a product, such as alcohol, the Young People’s Office is focused
primarily on the views of young people. The Young People’s Office works within a
process to develop the awareness and understanding of a young person’s views and
opinions, which can be applied to any service. The application of the process is
about challenging and questioning, which in turn can become an extremely
valuable learning resource.
Weaknesses and Resources
Some of the problems we encounter include a lack of staff. As a lot of people
might not understand the way the project runs and how it is evolving, it is hard
to bring new adults into the Young People’s Office and expect them to know what
to do. Some people would never understand the concept of the Young People’s
Office, and this is understandable, yet equally some people get it straight
away.
Also, there can sometimes be a tokenistic view towards young people that we find
hard to deal with. If an organisation wants the views of a young person because
it would help them cross off that section, or because it seems to be what
everyone is doing nowadays, it can sometimes be difficult to say that you're not
interested in getting involved with that particular project or initiative.
Sometimes it is not that anyone is being at all patronising or tokenistic at
all, just that the young people feel that they don't understand why they are
being involved. We have to decide carefully how to distribute our time, and what
constitutes as beneficial for both the young person and the adult.
Lack of resources can also be a problem, at the moment the young people are
working on a project where they have little or no equipment to base their work
on. We have quite a few computers but we can sometimes find it hard to get the
right software installed, because of complications with the people that are
employed to do this. As more and more young people get involved with Youth
Consultation, we need a stronger base. Our ICT and resource requirements are met
effectively and efficiently.
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HOME
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Contents
Introduction
Young
People’s Involvement
Budget plan
Acknowledgements
Take
Forward & Improve?
Our
Recommendations
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