Young Voices Matter
The Change Maker Volunteers Programme enables young volunteers to address issues that are important to them, while empowering them to create genuine change for themselves and their peers.
This is done through peer-led consultations with youth groups that focus on understanding young people’s lives, their concerns, and potential obstacles to success.
In our first consultation (in 2022), we recruited young people across Newcastle and provided them with training on social action and democracy. They then conducted peer-led consultations with youth groups in the North East, revealing four main themes:
- not feeling listened to,
- mental health,
- personal safety, and
- the environment.
It was shocking to hear young people speak candidly about the distress they face in their lives. The report also highlighted that government policies and external control significantly affect young people’s lives, and they have limited opportunities to voice their concerns.
You can read more about the findings and process here and watch this space for an update for our next Change Makers Volunteers Programme due to kick off in 2024!
The consultations revealed that despite their differences, young people share similar perspectives on life. Two participants shared their views:
“We live so differently and have different problems but are still part of the same community and share the same thoughts about it.”
“The consultation was a real eye opener for me. … [It] showed that even though the type of hardships varied from person to person they all looked at life in a similar way.”
The word cloud created from their responses (below) reflects their thoughts on the activities conducted during the consultations.
You can read our full Change Maker Volunteers report here.
Address
The Cowgate Centre
Houghton Avenue
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE5 3UT
Contact
Call us on: 07946 314 037
Email us at: kelly@projects4change.org