NO - Harry Wade, active involvement team manager, The National Youth Agency
With only a few exceptions, the answer has to be no. To have enough influence, the views of young people need to be built into the planning, commissioning and evaluating of youth services.
Ask Adidas and Cadbury whether young people have influenced them to make what they deliver better. Building in young people's views needs a strategic plan.
Some trusts are using tools like Hear by Right to map participation of young people and apply this evidence to create a strategic plan. Children and young people can be involved easily in both the mapping and planning stages. Whether there's enough influence can be proved using the 'What's changed?' participation outcomes tool. Lord Herman Ouseley said in his 2001 report on race relations in Bradford: "If the people who are supposed to benefit from change do not know it is happening, then it probably isn't." The view of every young person matters.
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