Cross-sector partnership championing youth work to be set up
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
UK Youth is looking to create a cross-sector strategy across youth support services by 2025 to champion and improve the delivery of youth work.
A key aim is to make it easier for young people to access support by improving collaboration across services.
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The plans have been unveiled in the organisation’s Unlocking Youth Work strategy for the next four years.
The strategy, says that there is a “lack of cross-sector mutual understanding across” services for young people.
This is leading to fragmented and complex services that young people “are left to try and navigate”, it adds.
“To effectively develop young people in the UK we need a joined-up approach from across the key sectors that exist to support them,” says the strategy.
It adds that the focus on “deliberate collective action” will ensure that effective initiatives in one sector “can be reinforced, championed and built upon in others”.
By 2025 UK Youth aims to increase cross-sector “understanding” of youth work, with the use of outdoor learning a specific focus.
It will also look to embed the involvement of young people and ensure organisations and professionals supporting young people are “demonstrably working together to solve key issues”.
Today’s the day 🥳 We’re launching our bold new strategy #UnlockingYouthWork!
— UK Youth (@UKYouth) June 9, 2021
We believe #YouthWork can be a catalyst for change to positively transform the lives of young people for the better.
Find out more about our strategy - A THREAD 🚨👇 pic.twitter.com/irzFkRwK8e
UK Youth’s 2025 strategy updates its previous 2020-2025 strategy to take into account the need to help young people recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This updated strategy stresses the need to “impact young lives by unlocking youth work as the catalyst for change that an effective recovery from the pandemic calls for”.
The charity’s chief executive Ndidi Okezie added: “Even before Covid-19 hit, the youth sector was struggling to be understood; unable to sustainably meet the diverse needs of young people in the unique way that it can.
“Young people are still being left to navigate development opportunities that do not join up. Yes, it’s important to be working on making that navigation easier, but our call to action is the need to re-imagine the whole system itself.
“To solve the key issues affecting young people, it’s crucial that cross-sector leaders and young people are empowered to come together, to share, grow expertise and solve key issues.
“It is vital that youth organisations have access to sustained quality development provision and that together we grow the evidence base of what works so the sector can scale quality provision for all young people.
“At UK Youth our focus will be on leveraging cross sector networks to deepen understanding and deliver system level change.”