Youth Conference Glasgow 2024
On Saturday 10th August 2024, CiNI’s Gets Active Youth Advisory Group hosted a conference in Glasgow to bring together young people from across the UK to share their work highlighting food insecurity and discuss important changes that governments need to make to support children and young people. They were joined by Changing Our World (a youth advisory group linked to Children in Scotland), Young Wales (a youth advisory group attached to Children in Wales) and the Food Foundation.
Our Youth Advisory Group played a key role in planning and delivering the conference. The young people discussed ideas and activities to help make the event fun and engaging for others, and how they wanted to share their experience advocating and campaigning for change. The conference started with an informal ‘meet and greet’, where participants had the opportunity to talk to YAG members as they collected their goodie bags, which included a souvenir t-shirt, note pad and pencil, fidget/sensory toys and other important items to use throughout the day.
Lots of tea, coffee and introductions were followed by a more formal welcome to all who attended by our Policy Officer, Dr Ernest Purvis. He spoke about why CiNI’s Youth Advisory Group decided to organise a conference in Scotland and what we hoped all the young people taking part would get out of the day. Ernest said that engaging with Changing Our World had spurred on the young people to reach out and learn from others who are attempting to influence their governments and advocate for positive change in policy and decision-making that affects children. He talked about the importance of sharing ideas, experiences, successes and challenges when it comes to issues affecting young people and what more must be done to help and improve things.
Ernest also shared one of his favourite colloquial expressions in NI – a ‘yeo’ – to get everyone warmed up and ready for action! Each group had a crack at the loudest ‘yeo’ and Scotland did quite well, but the roof of the Studio nearly came off when everyone shouted yeoooo together.
Bethany Ebron from Oasis Youth, the lead Youth Worker for CiNI’s Gets Active Youth Advisory Group, kicked off the icebreakers and some more warm-up activities for the young people. We played ‘Find Your Match’ – a great way to get talking to everyone in the room as you have to match your given character with their natural partner (e.g. Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin) – and ‘Speed Community’ – which involves asking lots of people lots of questions. That was followed by our first workshop activity: a ‘Walking Debate’ where participants were given a choice of positions on topics and asked to justify their decision (e.g. do you think social media has [a] more of a positive impact or [b] more of a negative impact on young people). We were able to capture their thoughts and comments using Mentimeter, like this snapshot of opinions below:
When we asked young people if they felt there was enough education on how decisions are made that impact them, most congregated at the middle of the room (to indicate that they did not think the answer was a clear yes or no). It was interesting that a clear majority of those attending had been involved in youth participation work in some form and felt that there are lots of opportunities but that they can be difficult to find or access. They also felt strongly that the education system was not equipping young people with knowledge or awareness about government policies and the importance of voting.
It was also fascinating to hear some of the young people articulate strong views against the universal provision of Free School Meals, including asking why millionaires should receive them. One of the most stark comments we captured when asked what topics are most important for young people to be involved in discussions with government about was someone who said “adult ideas are all from what experiences used to be, children have current experience.” Another said, when asked what change would you like to see in the future and why, “youth voice is good but we want to get to action and doing.”
After lunch, the focus shifted to sharing some of the work that young people have done in terms of research, advocacy and campaigning on the issues that matter to them. Niamh from our Gets Active Youth Advisory Group explained the survey, policy recommendations and political engagement that we have done so far. Our YAG also shared a video animation of their work to date. They were asked about the political instability in Northern Ireland, and how that affects this kind of work, with many in agreement that it always feels like we’re playing ‘catch-up’ with other nations.
Young Wales presented their work with the Welsh government, including research on how the cost-of-living impacts young people’s choices around sustainable living and mitigating climate breakdown. They described in detail the knowledge and skills they had gained through conducting research and how much they enjoyed facilitating focus groups, analysis and surprising findings.
The Food Foundation took a novel approach to the sharing session, with staff interviewing two Food Ambassadors about their journey with the organisation and key highlights from campaigning. The young Food Ambassadors answered questions on what they enjoyed the most, what they learned, what was challenging, and what made them proud. They talked about the difficulties of speaking out personally on issues like food poverty, but that the achievements in influencing government were significant.
Changing Our World talked about their work from a special stall they set up and used questions from a hat to engage the audience. Their four ‘hot topics’ were education, climate change, additional needs/disabilities, and equality and inclusion. The young people described how they helped shape the delivery of Children in Scotland’s Conference, their work to inform government of children’s views on key issues and the importance of listening to and acting upon those views.
The final part of the conference was a chance for young people to test their knowledge of some important issues by interrogating official statistics through an interactive ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ game show.
There were questions about the Online Safety Act, government spending on education, food poverty, mental health support, and vaping. Congratulations to the young person from Wales who aced it with the highest score! Our Feedback Survey from the conference shows that the young people involved learned a lot about food poverty, online safety and what was happening in other parts of the UK.
There were questions about the Online Safety Act, government spending on education, food poverty, mental health support, and vaping. Congratulations to the young person from Wales who aced it with the highest score! Our Feedback Survey from the conference shows that the young people involved learned a lot about food poverty, online safety and what was happening in other parts of the UK.
How much did young people say they knew about food poverty before and after the event?
How much did young people feel they knew about what was happening in other parts of the UK before and after the event?
Young people said they learned more about the prevalence and impact of poverty:
“How many young people are sadly living in poverty”
– young person from Scotland.
“I’ve learned a lot more about food poverty and I was surprised that 4.3 million children face poverty in UK.”
– young person from Scotland
They valued getting to meeting people from other parts of the UK, hearing what the problems were and what action groups were taking in their own area:
“[I learned] about the different ways the groups deal with the problems.”
– young person from NI
“Scotland puts soooo much funding into its education system.”
– young person from Wales
“Young people have a little voice when it comes to educational discussions. A little voice on mental health. Young people are craving attention and help from a government that has its own agenda. And they are put last.”
– young person from NI
“Different places have similar issues.”
– young person from NI
The experience helped young people feel that they were part of a larger group and they valued finding out that other young people were interested in similar issues to themselves:
“[I learnt] How many people care about the same thing as me.”
– young person from NI
Exchanging ideas, meeting new people, seeing Glasgow and learning about what is happening in other nations has undoubtedly been a valuable experience for CiNI’s Gets Active Youth Advisory Group and we look forward to continuing to build relationships with others doing similar work.
Thank you to all who attended and contributed to our Youth Conference in Glasgow and we wish you the best of luck in your campaigns to bring about positive change for children and young people.
Youth Conference Glasgow 2024
On Saturday 10th August 2024, CiNI’s Gets Active Youth Advisory Group hosted a conference in Glasgow to bring together young people from across the UK to share their work highlighting food insecurity and discuss important changes that governments need to make to support children and young people. They were joined by Changing Our World (a youth advisory group linked to Children in Scotland), Young Wales (a youth advisory group attached to Children in Wales) and the Food Foundation.
Our Youth Advisory Group played a key role in planning and delivering the conference. The young people discussed ideas and activities to help make the event fun and engaging for others, and how they wanted to share their experience advocating and campaigning for change. The conference started with an informal ‘meet and greet’, where participants had the opportunity to talk to YAG members as they collected their goodie bags, which included a souvenir t-shirt, note pad and pencil, fidget/sensory toys and other important items to use throughout the day.
Lots of tea, coffee and introductions were followed by a more formal welcome to all who attended by our Policy Officer, Dr Ernest Purvis. He spoke about why CiNI’s Youth Advisory Group decided to organise a conference in Scotland and what we hoped all the young people taking part would get out of the day. Ernest said that engaging with Changing Our World had spurred on the young people to reach out and learn from others who are attempting to influence their governments and advocate for positive change in policy and decision-making that affects children. He talked about the importance of sharing ideas, experiences, successes and challenges when it comes to issues affecting young people and what more must be done to help and improve things.
Ernest also shared one of his favourite colloquial expressions in NI – a ‘yeo’ – to get everyone warmed up and ready for action! Each group had a crack at the loudest ‘yeo’ and Scotland did quite well, but the roof of the Studio nearly came off when everyone shouted yeoooo together.
Bethany Ebron from Oasis Youth, the lead Youth Worker for CiNI’s Gets Active Youth Advisory Group, kicked off the icebreakers and some more warm-up activities for the young people. We played ‘Find Your Match’ – a great way to get talking to everyone in the room as you have to match your given character with their natural partner (e.g. Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin) – and ‘Speed Community’ – which involves asking lots of people lots of questions. That was followed by our first workshop activity: a ‘Walking Debate’ where participants were given a choice of positions on topics and asked to justify their decision (e.g. do you think social media has [a] more of a positive impact or [b] more of a negative impact on young people). We were able to capture their thoughts and comments using Mentimeter, like this snapshot of opinions below:
When we asked young people if they felt there was enough education on how decisions are made that impact them, most congregated at the middle of the room (to indicate that they did not think the answer was a clear yes or no). It was interesting that a clear majority of those attending had been involved in youth participation work in some form and felt that there are lots of opportunities but that they can be difficult to find or access. They also felt strongly that the education system was not equipping young people with knowledge or awareness about government policies and the importance of voting.
It was also fascinating to hear some of the young people articulate strong views against the universal provision of Free School Meals, including asking why millionaires should receive them. One of the most stark comments we captured when asked what topics are most important for young people to be involved in discussions with government about was someone who said “adult ideas are all from what experiences used to be, children have current experience.” Another said, when asked what change would you like to see in the future and why, “youth voice is good but we want to get to action and doing.”
After lunch, the focus shifted to sharing some of the work that young people have done in terms of research, advocacy and campaigning on the issues that matter to them. Niamh from our Gets Active Youth Advisory Group explained the survey, policy recommendations and political engagement that we have done so far. Our YAG also shared a video animation of their work to date. They were asked about the political instability in Northern Ireland, and how that affects this kind of work, with many in agreement that it always feels like we’re playing ‘catch-up’ with other nations.
Young Wales presented their work with the Welsh government, including research on how the cost-of-living impacts young people’s choices around sustainable living and mitigating climate breakdown. They described in detail the knowledge and skills they had gained through conducting research and how much they enjoyed facilitating focus groups, analysis and surprising findings.
The Food Foundation took a novel approach to the sharing session, with staff interviewing two Food Ambassadors about their journey with the organisation and key highlights from campaigning. The young Food Ambassadors answered questions on what they enjoyed the most, what they learned, what was challenging, and what made them proud. They talked about the difficulties of speaking out personally on issues like food poverty, but that the achievements in influencing government were significant.
Changing Our World talked about their work from a special stall they set up and used questions from a hat to engage the audience. Their four ‘hot topics’ were education, climate change, additional needs/disabilities, and equality and inclusion. The young people described how they helped shape the delivery of Children in Scotland’s Conference, their work to inform government of children’s views on key issues and the importance of listening to and acting upon those views.
The final part of the conference was a chance for young people to test their knowledge of some important issues by interrogating official statistics through an interactive ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ game show.
There were questions about the Online Safety Act, government spending on education, food poverty, mental health support, and vaping. Congratulations to the young person from Wales who aced it with the highest score! Our Feedback Survey from the conference shows that the young people involved learned a lot about food poverty, online safety and what was happening in other parts of the UK.
There were questions about the Online Safety Act, government spending on education, food poverty, mental health support, and vaping. Congratulations to the young person from Wales who aced it with the highest score! Our Feedback Survey from the conference shows that the young people involved learned a lot about food poverty, online safety and what was happening in other parts of the UK.
How much did young people say they knew about food poverty before and after the event?
How much did young people feel they knew about what was happening in other parts of the UK before and after the event?
Young people said they learned more about the prevalence and impact of poverty:
“How many young people are sadly living in poverty”
– young person from Scotland.
“I’ve learned a lot more about food poverty and I was surprised that 4.3 million children face poverty in UK.”
– young person from Scotland
They valued getting to meeting people from other parts of the UK, hearing what the problems were and what action groups were taking in their own area:
“[I learned] about the different ways the groups deal with the problems.”
– young person from NI
“Scotland puts soooo much funding into its education system.”
– young person from Wales
“Young people have a little voice when it comes to educational discussions. A little voice on mental health. Young people are craving attention and help from a government that has its own agenda. And they are put last.”
– young person from NI
“Different places have similar issues.”
– young person from NI
The experience helped young people feel that they were part of a larger group and they valued finding out that other young people were interested in similar issues to themselves:
“[I learnt] How many people care about the same thing as me.”
– young person from NI
Exchanging ideas, meeting new people, seeing Glasgow and learning about what is happening in other nations has undoubtedly been a valuable experience for CiNI’s Gets Active Youth Advisory Group and we look forward to continuing to build relationships with others doing similar work.
Thank you to all who attended and contributed to our Youth Conference in Glasgow and we wish you the best of luck in your campaigns to bring about positive change for children and young people.
