Pre-consultation workshops have taken place in youth centres with young people under sixteen, to get their input into the consultation design.
A range of pre-consultation meetings also took place with a sample of organisations working with children and young people who may experience barriers to participating in a consultation process. The purpose of this is to inform the design of the consultation, to ensure it is inclusive of the widest range of children and young people.
The Young Person’s Reference Group have planned and delivered 25 different consultation sessions to date in a wide range of settings with children and young people through Northern Ireland, consulting with 400+ individuals. A further 10 sessions are planned with an aim to complete by the end of November. The Young Person’s Reference group are working on collating the information they have gathered and putting this into recommendations to be considered for the future youth work policy. Additionally, the Young Persons Reference Group are working on using the lived experience and voice of children and young people, to inform what the vision, purpose and role of youth work should be going forward.
The Young Person’s Reference Group are progressing to share the learning from their consultation process, including at a recent meeting with the Deputy Permanent Secretary of DE. They plan to share and disseminate the recommendation, vision and purpose identified with the Policy Reference Gorup and sub-groups, Project Board, Cross-Departmental Group, the Minister and Department of Education Senior Officials, to ensure the voice and experience of children and young remains central in the review and development of youth work policy.
The Young Person’s Reference Group continue to meet regularly, having thirteen different sessions since they commenced their work in April, with a further four sessions planned until the end of November. Recently the group has reviewed a paper on behalf of the Delivery Innovation sub-group.
The YPRG have completed a survey to capture a wide range of views from children and young people and this can be completed by clicking the following link: - Children and young person's survey on youth work. This is open to any child or young person, aged 4-25 to complete including those who have not engaged in youth work.”
POLICY REFERENCE GROUP (PRG)
The Policy Reference Group (PRG) met on Wednesday 11 September at Leafair Wellbeing Village, Londonderry. Membership update included the change of members for Young Farmers and Cedar Foundation as well as a TUS representative for the Policy Subgroup meeting.
Sector updates were then provided on Dormant Accounts including proposals for next steps and an update on a successful Peace bid around capturing the needs of young people based on 6 sustainable goals.
An update was provided on forthcoming meetings of Project Board, Cross-Departmental and Young People’s Reference Group (YWPG) and future plans and planning for youth practitioners engagement events.
PRG sub-group updates were provided by the relevant Joint Chairs for the Accessibility, Inclusion & Equity, Delivery Innovation, Strategic Engagement & Communications, Workforce Development & Growth subgroups and by a member of the Youth Work for Young People subgroup in the absence of either of the joint chairs.
CROSS DEPARTMENTAL GROUP
The last cross departmental group meeting took place on 18th September 2024, with the final meeting for 2024 scheduled in December.
Two Departments continue to work to complete their returns in relation to government investment in Youth Services and information will be updated on receipt.
A representative from Youth Work Alliance provided a presentation on street based youth work - Social Unrest- The Role of Youth Work. There was a general discussion on the presentation and it was agreed that this topic would be further considered in relation to Cross-Departmental collaboration. The legislative context for Northern Ireland was outlined and the key areas on which the proposed model would impact on the draft Programme for Government were considered, as well as the resource implications.
Updates were provided by DE on the Young People’s Reference Group, Policy Reference Group, including the five PRG sub-groups, and the Project Board.
PROJECT BOARD
The Project Board has met four times since the Policy Review commenced and most recently on 23 September 2024. The next meeting scheduled for December 2024.
The project is currently estimated to be approximately 9 months behind the original schedule, though it was recognised that the plan would be likely to change as the work progressed and in response to findings. This revision reflects the impacts of the outworkings of the five Policy Review Group sub-groups which were established to consider specific elements within the agreed scope of the policy review.
Project Board members discussed and considered the recent release of the draft Programme for Government in relation to youth work.
Further research reports have been added to the lessons learned log along with a section to record Changes & Impacts and Benefits & Outcomes identified.
Stakeholder engagement with Youth Work Practitioners commenced at a ‘Vision Event’ in June 2024 and will continue throughout 2024/25. At the September 2024 meeting the Project Board also started to consider the important aspect of engagement with Parents/Guardians as part of the Policy Review process.