We worked directly with young people devising and running a local councillor shadowing scheme and a fellowship programme for young people to develop their leadership skills. We ran a youth leadership fund that granted more than £1m to organisations either looking to develop or expand on their leadership projects for young people. We explored what makes a young leader and learned from best practice around the world. We published our findings on how young people around the world use digital media in their leadership activities.
We have produced a matrix detailing leadership opportunities available to young people in England - which will continue beyond the end of March. There is now a framework that professionals can use to compare different leadership opportunities and a toolkit for them to use to identify and develop leadership characteristics with young people.
In doing this we have produced a number of tools and resources that can be used in the future and experiences for the 2,500-plus young people that the programme worked with directly.
But, above all, we have seen the value of young people in leading projects and work in order to make a difference in their lives. Young people helped across the programme from communication of the work and producing campaigning materials to approval of funding applications for our youth leadership fund. As ever, young people embraced the opportunities and our work benefited as a result. We should celebrate this - and continue to look for ways to work with young people in the programmes we undertake.
Simon Hargrave is national programme manager at the NYA. Contact him on simonh@nya.org.uk.
