Background to the Research

• This is a report on the NI Youth Forum's consultation workshop on the NI 10 year Strategy for Children and Young People and Action Plan (2008 -2011), which took place on the 19th August 2009.
  

Research Approach

• 18 young people, from a variety of socio-economic, geographical and religious backgrounds, took part in the consultation. The young people split into two groups to discuss six outcome areas: health; enjoying, learning and achieving; livening in safety and with stability; experiencing economic and environmental well-being; contributing positively to community and society; and living in a society which respects their rights.
  

Main Findings

• Young people listed mental health, body image, the National Health Service, obesity and anorexia as relevant to them.
• There was a perceived need for a better level of services, less waiting time and more awareness-raising of mental health. The Government was noted to have begun to understand the need to address mental health, however young people felt that services should be integrated/joined up.
• Young people defined 'enjoying, learning and achieving' as enjoying activity centres, youth forums and school. Some spoke about gaining certified recognition and participating on courses and the advantages of availing of these opportunities.
• Participants spoke about things that they enjoyed with regards to learning, particularly the need for more practical ways of learning, such as vocational studies and apprenticeships. They suggested that a minority of the youth population need more opportunities to enhance skills and learning.
• Young people felt extremely strongly about 'Feeling safe in your own area' and spoke about being afraid of peers.
• Participants felt that there is a need to learn more about other traditions and cultures and that this should be done from an early age and be part of a process. They felt that sectarianism and racism are still prevalent and often ignored.
• More community policing was suggested to tackle the issue of feeling safe in one's community. Young people discussed current campaigns in the media and felt that the Government needs to do more than just placing adverts to tackle the issues.
• In discussing 'experiencing economic and environmental well-being', young people spoke about having 'the money to live'.
• Educational Maintenance was hotly debated and caused frustration for those who did not receive it as it was seen as unfair. Participants discussed the extra costs for school and the problems this created for young people whose parents could not afford to pay more.
• Participants talked about the emphasis of schools on exam results and not the needs of the individual pupil. They also highlighted that 'life style skills need to be taught in schools but that 'parents and teachers are not very good at delivering sex education'. Young people suggested that everyone should receive sex and relationship education from an early age and throughout their education.
• Some young people felt penalised if they had a two parent family. They highlighted that the benefit system needs to be fair, catering also for families where the parents live together but are on the bread line.
• Parental responsibility and the need to ensure that parents spend benefits on their children were highlighted. They agreed that the Government is doing some good things in this area, such as uniform grants, free school meals, breakfast clubs and milk tokens.
• Young people agreed that most of the issues discussed in this paper are related to or have an impact on poverty and that more could be done to support children and young people who may be living in poverty.
• Access to reliable and affordable transport was viewed as having a major impact, particularly for young people in rural communities. It was agreed that free transport could have a cross cutting impact e.g. safe space to socialize, reducing anti social behaviour and increasing career opportunities and that this should apply to buses and trains.
• 'Young people working' was a big issue, particularly the inequalities, such as the minimum wage, with regards to this.
• Most young people did not know about the Anti-Poverty strategy and they felt the aim to halve child poverty by 2010 was unrealistic, that more should be done to tackle poverty and that the benefit system was good but could be improved.
• Young people felt 'in the dark' with regards to the process of getting a house and disagreed with refurbishing as oppose to redeveloping social housing in areas of high economic deprivation. Participants also felt that government was not doing enough with regards to the environment.
• Young people talked about how 'youth services' provided opportunities to contribute positively to society. However, some discussed access to youth services and others viewed transport as a barrier to contribution.
• Youth forums were one way to contribute to community and society and these should be at local and regional levels; young people also thought there should be more opportunities for young people to get involved in youth projects and youth participation projects.
• Young people spoke of frustration with regards to having their voices heard; government needs to listen and understand what they are saying.
• The need for more volunteering opportunities for all young people was seen as a huge issue.
• In relation to what the Government is doing about 'Contributing positively to community and society', young people said that there is 'lots of talking but young people can't see impact'. This outcome area was seen as very negative and almost stereotyping young people.
• In relation to 'living in a society which respects their rights', fair treatment, the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child, respect for young people's needs/issues/wishes and respecting opinion were highlighted.
• With regards to the right to play, 'facilities for young people' was a huge issue. Participants liked schemes such as midnight soccer and reduced leisure centre access fees, but spoke about how a lot of youth facilities are faith based, which was a barrier for many young people.
• Young people expressed the opinion that they should be allowed play in streets and that this is affected by 'dog poo'.
• The play and leisure policy was discussed and young people expressed a desire to be part of rolling this policy out. They spoke about 'how teenagers often get forgotten' in relation to play and leisure. The group suggested that a community based approach should be adopted to 'design this right (to play) into everyone's life'.
• In relation to the right to an education, young people discussed fees, debt and a focus on academia, whereas there should be more focus on vocational studies and apprenticeships.
• Young people said that 'there should be a focus on community and not cost' and that they often don't notice what the Government is doing.
• In summing up, the young people suggested jobs, safety, the recession, money, transport and education as the most important issues for them. Suggestions to make things better for young people included: giving them more money; listening more to young people; giving young people jobs; increasing EMA; including young people more within decision making; putting more money into addressing poverty and less into war; providing free transport; and safe spaces to hang out.
• The young people felt that volunteering and good relations were missing from the Strategy and Action Plan, that it was not child friendly and that young people need to be more involved.
  

Conclusions

• At the beginning of the session young people knew little or nothing about the strategy and felt it had no relevance to them. By the end of the session they understood the strategy a little bit more and, although they did not fully understand it, they did feel that it had an impact on them. The fact that the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister were at the session was seen as positive and it made young people feel 'more listened to'. Young people largely enjoyed having the opportunity to have a say on this strategy, however more long-term meaningful engagement is needed for young people to have their say.