£6m youth leadership body will involve up to 20 organisations

By Ben Cook Wednesday, 23 July 2008

Some 15 to 20 organisations will be involved in running the government's £6m national leadership body for young people, according to one of the key co-ordinators of the project.

Adam Nichols, chief executive, Changemakers

Adam Nichols, chief executive of the charity Changemakers, which carried out a feasibility study of the leadership body for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), said up to 20 organisations would play a "meaningful role".

The DCSF announced in March that it would fund the body, which will aim to increase opportunities for young people to act as community leaders (CYP Now, 5-11 March).

In addition to the feasibility study, Changemakers was also commissioned to carry out research into "delivery structures" for the new body. Final recommendations on the format will be made to children's minister Beverley Hughes shortly. The organisations involved in running the body will be selected over the summer, with the body up and running this autumn.

Nichols said Changemakers had spoken to about 100 organisations for the studies, but he added that, while there was a desire to involve many organisations, it was important to keep the structure manageable.

"Among the pros of having many bodies involved is having a lot of organisations carrying the flame, but it could be hard to integrate," he said.

According to Nichols, the new body will aim to "connect up more effectively" existing leadership schemes. "There is no lack of capacity - for example, there are projects run by ContinYou to give primary school children a greater role in the leadership of schools," he said. "It will be about building on what is already there - you need a national body, but you also need delivery through existing organisations in the field."

Nichols also said the body would aim to alter the way the public think about young people as potential leaders. "We want to get society to take young people seriously," he said.

- A full version of the interview is on www.cypnow.co.uk

- See My Week, p48.