Participation Network - Supporting the Public Sector to engage children & young people

What we wanted

Following the launch of the Children and Young People’s Strategy in 2006, the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) decided to elicit the views of children and young people around the 6 ministerial priorities identified in the strategy.  It was decided that a Youth Debate, sponsored by the Junior Ministers, Jeffrey Donaldson and Gerry Kelly and the Speaker of the Assembly, would be used as the forum for eliciting the views of the young people. The Children & Young Peoples Unit in OFMDFM were tasked with arranging the Youth Debate in the Assembly Chamber at Parliament Buildings. This was an exciting and unique opportunity for young people (12 – 17 year olds) to get involved in the democratic process; to take on the role of an MLA; and to express their views to Junior Ministers, MLAs and others involved in government policy making that directly relates to young people.

The 6 ministerial priorities were distilled into the following motion for debate:  

“This Assembly calls upon the executive, young people and their representatives to work together in analysing the risk factors and origins of why some young people have been drawn into anti-social behaviour, underage drinking and drug taking with a view to addressing the underlying causes of such behaviour. The assembly further calls upon the executive, young people and their representatives to work together to introduce effective measures that raise awareness of the harmful affects of these behaviours on individuals and on society as a whole, with a view to reducing the occurrences of those behaviours”.

How we did it

OFMDFM consulted with the Children’s Commissioner who recommended involving the Participation Network to assist with shaping this imaginative and participative approach to engaging with children and young people. They were able to access the network’s extensive database to make contact with organisations that represented children and young people. After completing a Participation Proposal Form and circulating to organisations enlisted on the Participation Network’ Directory, a number of organisations expressed an interest in taking part in this event.

The Project Manager then held meetings with those organisations to explain the aims of the Youth Debate, discuss the logistics involved and explain how the feedback from the Debate would be utilised by OFMDFM. He also offered to hold facilitated workshops for the young people in each of the organisations. A range of interested organisations availed of the workshops for young people where information on how the Assembly operates; video clips of the real Assembly and a previous youth debate; as well as details on where to access information on the debate topic were provided. These organisations then continued to work with their young people after the workshops, identifying the key issues for them around the Debate motion.  For example, Craigavon Council brought together 35 young people to discuss the issues, with 8 young people representing them at the Debate. The organisations were invited to nominate one young person who would then represent the views of their group by making a short speech during the Debate.

In identifying organisations to participate in the Debate, the Project Manager and the Participation Network ensured that groups representing marginalised young people were included, such as the Traveller community; disabled; deaf; and lesbian, gay and bisexual young people. 

Around the same time the Project Manager held meetings at Stormont with the Junior Ministers’ Special Advisors, the NI Assembly’s Properties Directorate and Education Service, as well as the Speaker’s Office to prepare for the Youth Debate.  MLAs were also encouraged to nominate a young person to participate in the event.  The preparatory work took place over a 6 month period from May – October 2008.

The Youth Debate was held on 18 October 2008 and 140 young people attended.  The event was a full day’s activity starting at 10 am with a pre-debate discussion followed by lunch and then the debate itself taking place in the afternoon.  The debate was organised to mirror the real NI Assembly as closely as possible. The 14 young people nominated by their organisation as speakers, made their speeches from the floor of the Assembly Chamber. At the end of the formal speeches, the Speaker announced that he was “opening the floor” for other contributions. Another 4 young people contributed to the Debate at that stage. 

Junior Ministers Gerry Kelly and Jeffrey Donaldson were in attendance throughout the day and at the end of the Debate they responded to the views expressed by the young people during the Debate. Other MLAs, as well as government policy makers, were in attendance at the Debate and observed from the gallery.

After the event (Jan 09) a letter was sent to all participants to thank them for their involvement and advise that a summary of the debate has been brought to the attention of the sub-group of the Ministerial Sub-Committee on Children and Young People.  A summary was also sent to the Champions for Children and Young People to help inform them in developing their policies. All participants and facilitators received a DVD and printed Hansard copy of the debate.

What they said

A summary report of the Youth Debate was considered by the Ministerial Sub-group, which is looking specifically at the key actions that are needed to reduce risky behaviour, as well as the Inter Departmental Sub Group to help inform them in developing their policies.

The event was evaluated by the Project Manager and the Participation Network. The main findings were:

• The young people had the opportunity to inform the development of Government policy on this cross-cutting issue.  Ministers were able to hear at first hand the experiences and views of a wide range of young people.  This was the first time that an event of this nature was held in the Assembly Chamber.  Feedback from the young people indicates that the opportunity to be in the Assembly Chamber made them feel special and they enjoyed the interaction with other groups and learned from the experience.
• The Participation Network should coordinate expressions of interest from their members, thus avoiding duplication and over-subscription.
• The pre-event workshops were very beneficial for all involved. It was clear that those who did not avail of the workshops were not as well prepared to participate as those who did. It would be worth making the pre-event workshops mandatory for any future event. This would have the added advantage of allowing more work to be done prior to the event, thereby shortening the day of the Debate.
• The Project Manager provided continuity for the young people in relation to contact with the Governmental Department concerned.  For example, a number of young people made individual contact through email and a response was essential. It is important for young people to have this form of continuity of contact.
• Work needs to be done to ensure that the young people’s expectations are realistic in relation to the process of seeing a policy through from the beginning to the end.