Institute for Youth Work sets out independence plans
Adam Offord
Thursday, May 28, 2015
The Institute for Youth Work (IYW) has outlined plans to become an independent organisation, which it hopes will help boost membership numbers.
As of this week the institute has around 694 members – the same number it had in September 2014, a year after it first launched.
Adam Muirhead, vice-chair of IYW, told CYP Now that the organisation is working to become fully independent from the National Youth Agency by next year.
He said the fact that the IYW remains under the umbrella of the NYA, which was behind setting it up, has held it back.
“The IYW has been held under the NYA and there is an acknowledgement that this has limited what the institute has been able to do,” he said.
“In the last year or so it’s like we’ve been operating in the dark, sort of wondering what to do, who we are and why.”
The IYW has now elected a council of 12 members to run the organisation, taking over from a steering group initially put in place by the NYA.
It is now responsible for the IYW’s website, Twitter account, membership support and the future recruitment of members.
Going forward the IYW hopes to register as a charity in its own right by next year.
Muirhead said independence will add new impetus to the organisation.
“I think that through this move and through much more activity, we are going to see a huge swell in our membership,” he said.
He added that the organisation will be canvassing its members over the coming months to establish which areas of work it should focus on.
