Trust gives young women a platform to shape decisions and control their destiny

Name Advisory panel

Provider Young Women's Trust

Young disadvantaged women often say they don't feel listened to or taken seriously. Politicians are chasing young people's votes but ignoring their voices. Young people have a right to participate in matters that affect their lives - and we're determined that they will.

Five years ago we set up an advisory panel of young women with experience of living on low or no pay. Made up of 30 young women, aged 16 to 30 from England and Wales from diverse backgrounds, members create the change they want to see based on their experiences of disadvantage, discrimination and inequality in relation to work. The panel is a powerful and authentic voice that challenges discrimination and disadvantage to improve opportunities for all women and it is central to everything the trust does.

The charitable sector generally supports the principle of "user involvement". But we should strive to make it a central part of everything we do, not a tick box exercise. That means including them in all decisions - from hiring to strategy development, and being accountable as well as making opportunities flexible.

Members choose their level of engagement and we train them in skills like public speaking, networking and blogging to help them develop. In the past, opportunities have included putting posters up in their local area to raise awareness of the charity, being interviewed by a national newspaper about being a young single mum and feeding their experiences of the gender pay gap into government consultations.

Working with young women who are on low or no incomes means that it's crucial to ensure that young women can afford to get involved; paying expenses in advance and including childcare is not necessarily commonplace. Being accountable to the advisory panel is also important; staff always feed back on how the panel's views have made a difference. We illustrate this in an engaging way through "involvement sheets".

In addition, we are committed to young women's involvement at all levels of the charity. In 2016, the panel suggested that young women should be recruited as trustees to diversify the charity's board, represent young women at a senior level and gain new skills. As a result, two former panel members became trustees of Young Women's Trust.

We measure the impact of our work through journey questionnaires. Panel members complete this questionnaire at three points throughout their two-year membership. Over the last four years, those who completed questionnaires have reported a considerable level of development; they are growing in confidence, improving their skills, taking up other voluntary and educational opportunities and gaining employment. Most crucially, respondents also reported that they felt the government, media and other voluntary organisations understood young women's issues and took their views into account more often.

Incorporating the views and experiences of panel members to shape our work has also had a tangible effect on young disadvantaged women more generally - for example Our Work It Out services, including confidence coaching and CV feedback, were created in response to panel members' needs. More than 3,000 young women have now accessed support through these services with 84 per cent reporting that it has led to a positive change in their employment situation.

• By Lydia Morgan, participation manager, Young Women's Trust
  
  

My View: Shanae, aged 25

"Inspiring, rewarding and exciting are words I would use to describe my time on the Young Women's Trust Advisory panel. As a young mother, especially a young black mother, I wanted to help change the narrative about young mums and highlight the real issues. We all have unique experiences and everyday battles which is why I am thankful that Young Women's Trust has given me the platform to shape change.

I have been in the same room as policymakers and powerful people, and have been given the chance to broaden their understanding. I have also been interviewed by the BBC and The Guardian too. These experiences built my confidence and impacted positively on my career aspirations. Society can make you feel inadequate but since joining the panel I feel the opposite of this. I am proud to be a young mum. I know the great things I have done and I am proud to be part of changing the view of the young girl behind the buggy!"