Participation in Action: Neet young people take eight steps towards a brighter future

Provider Rathbone Training

Name Project 8

In July, Rathbone Training launched the Project 8 initiative as a pilot scheme in Greater Manchester, with the aim of helping young people who are not in education, employment or training (Neet) complete eight core training areas.

Over the course of the 12-week community-based project young people were presented with a number of challenges and given the chance to gain new skills, build their confidence and get work experience.

Mike Leyland, informal education programme lead at Rathbone Training, says that 10 young people between the ages of 16 and 21 took part in the pilot. To ensure the project was community based, they teamed up with charity Manchester Young Lives, who also supported the young people.

He explains the first stage of the eight-part course saw the young people undertake "skills", "resilience" and "health and wellbeing" modules designed to develop leadership, communication and teamwork skills. They also learned practical skills such as money management and cooking and creative skills through drama, photography and a Big Music project.

"It is about creative and soft skills and is all issue-based," Leyland explains. "All of the drama and music they create is about issues affecting them such as health and wellbeing."

The next phase of the programme involved the young people working as a group to carry out a social action project. Leyland explains that there was a children's park in Moss Side that was full of litter.

The group ran a community day in the park that involved games, music and face painting and encouraged young people to take care of the park.

Completing their social action project gained them a Level 1 qualification in peer mentoring. The next stage of the programme saw the young people go on a week-long residential to overcome barriers and talk about their aspirations and goals.

The final two modules were employability focused, Leyland explains. The young people undertook two-weeks of work experience in a variety of sectors including retail, catering, youth work, social care, and the drama and creative sector.

Those who had completed the initiative then considered their next steps including whether to apply for apprenticeships.

"They have gone into further education and college, full-time employment, our employability programmes and also one is applying for apprenticeships," he says.

Leyland says the programme has been very beneficial to the young people because it has made "them realise that certain things need to change".

"A lot of these young people had issues in their lives and challenges they have overcome, whether that is negative experiences in education or at home such as drugs or alcohol. This has enabled them to take an intensive programme, explore issues and motivate them," he says.

Georgia Ward, aged 17, from Fallowfield, who took part in the project, says the experience has helped her to meet new people and overcome anxiety.

"Looking back I never thought I'd get as much out of the project as I have. I'm now much more confident and have even given a speech to a room full of people, which I could never have done before.

"I now feel really positive about the future."

Now that the pilot programme has finished, Leyland says that he is planning to deliver it in other areas of Greater Manchester. It is then hoped the programme can spread to other parts of the country.

For more information on the project email project8@rathboneuk.org