Posts Tagged ‘Youth’
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Our Year, Our Voice
On the 18th December 2009, The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that the following year beginning the 12th August 2010 (that’s TODAY!) was to be known as The International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding. This exciting development means that The General Assembly has spent the last month calling on governments, communities and individuals worldwide to support youth-focused activities on a local, national and international scale.
The United Nations have put specific focus on enhancing ‘Dialogue and Mutual Understanding’- the objective being to encourage communication and acceptance across generations and cultures; to promote the ideals of peace, respect for human rights, freedom, and solidarity.
So what does this mean to me?
It would appear that authorities everywhere now understand the importance of acknowledging the voice of youth in regards to social debate. Governments feel it is imperative that young people are engaged in a significant and sustainable manner and they are now turning to young people everywhere in an attempt to improve relationships, enhance understanding and solidify respect between generations, cultures and societies.
“The International Year is about advancing the full and effective participation of youth in all aspects of society,” UN Focal Point on Youth Nicola Shepherd said. “We encourage all sectors of society to work in partnership with youth and youth organizations to better understand their needs and concerns and to recognize the contributions that they can make to society.”
Young people are a major human resource for community development, technological innovation and positive social change. Governments are now trying to harness the energy, imagination and initiative of the world’s youth in an effort to overcome the challenges facing each and every one of us; from enhancing peace to improving the current economic condition.
As a youth-focused organisation, everyone at v is very excited about taking advantage of this occasion and developing ideas to ensure this year is a successful and empowering occasion for young people everywhere. This is an amazing opportunity for youth from all around the world to demonstrate their commitment to fruitful dialogue, contributing and sharing ideas, and advancing mutual understanding.
So what next?
Now that The General Assembly has acknowledged the potential of young people everywhere, there’s never been a better time to try your hand at something new. This is the perfect opportunity to enhance your presence in your local community, get your voice heard and try to make a difference.
Please visit: http://social.un.org/youthyear/ for more information on The International Year of Youth.
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South London volunteer radio station ‘Reprezent’ gets a licence
Reprezent, an on-line radio station created as a platform for young volunteers to air their views, has been granted a license by Ofcom and will hit the airwaves in 2011.
‘Reprezent’ was launched in 2008 and was the first FM station to be programmed solely by young people. Created with support from Choice FM, the station provides a voice for underrepresented minorities in mainstream media. Believed to have positively encouraged the youth of South London to communicate with one another, the radio station became a popular platform for debates on burning issues such as knife crime, teenage pregnancy and career aspirations.
Many youth volunteered their time, skills and creativity in ensuring the success of the radio station. Aaron, 17, has been presenting his own show online for a year. “This is about giving young people the chance to represent themselves and get involved in something positive. Everyone hears the bad things, but Reprezent is about our music, our culture, and what we can bring to society,” he says.
The station will reach out to over 160,000 13-25 years old, providing many young people with broadcast and media training. Schools, councils and businesses alike will rejoice at the prospect of a broadcast platform in which the youth, the general public and the officials can amicably highlight issues, discuss options, and settle on resolutions.
The radio station is a real boost at a time when youth unemployment is on the rise, and young people are looking for practical experience for their CVs. Finances have already been secured for the station to work with over 300 young people over the next year, and ‘Reprezent’ plans to continue growing in creativity, community support and cultural significance for a long time to come.
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v’s robot warmly welcomed into Parliament
Well, we did it. We put a robot in Parliament. Not just any robot I have to say, a robot that writes out, word for word, what young people care most about - delivering those messages directly to the politicians. At a time when only 3% of young people have ever contacted their MP, the robot - nicknamed Voicebot - is a very modern twist on writing a letter to your MP.
Voicebot in Parliament
The Voicebot is part of v’s proactive research campaign called Voicebox.
At a reception hosted by Tim Loughton MP, shadow minister for children and young people, to launch the robot’s week-long stay in parliament, lots of MP’s got to hear about the project and meet with the robot itself.
Tim Loughton MP, shadow minister for children and young people talking with v volunteers
Speaking at the launch Tim Loughton MP said, ‘Voicebox puts young people right at the heart of democracy. This is a great initiative bringing politicians and young people together’.
Other MP’s visiting the robot, reading young peoples’ cares and talking to the v volunteers included Angela Smith MP, Minister for the Third Sector, who commented, ‘Young people are our future and it is vital that we listen and understand their needs and concerns. Voicebox is an excellent two-way communication tool. It has the potential to give us real insight, helping us to take action that is truly effective where it most counts’.
Angela Smith MP, Minister for the Third Sector reading young peoples cares
Terry Ryall, chief executive of v reminded those at the launch that ’hundreds of thousands of young people want to make the world a better place. The challenge for politicians everywhere is to take risks with new ways to engage young people ‘.
The full results of the research underpinning the robot is being fed into v’s project with the think tank Demos, A New Anatomy of Youth.
More pics of the launch available here.
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The Goodie Hoodie - young people fight back about negative stereotypes of youth
The negative stereotypes of today’s youth as ‘violent’, ‘disrespectful’ or ‘apathetic’ were challenged head on today by the results of our innovative youth insight project Voicebox. At an early hour this morning, Terry Ryall, v’s Chief Executive, appeared on BBC Radio 4 Today Programme challenging the general public and politicians to re-consider their views of today 16 – 25 year olds.
The results show that while 82% of young people who participated in the research might own a ‘hoodie’ this does not equate to anti-social behaviour. Voicebox shows 85% of young people or their friends don’t carry a knife, 86% have never shoplifted, and 69% did not agree drugs were ok for recreational use.
The messages young people are submitting to the Voicebox robot demonstrate their frustration about the widely held negative perceptions of young people today. The emerging results from Voicebox blow apart the idea that the young generation are disengaged.
Results from the online polls support this showing that 78% of young people do, in fact, respect their elders, 75% are happy with the relationship they have with their family, and 68% are content living at home.
Voicebox will continue to collect, use, and share data about life styles, attitudes, and behaviours of young Britain’s. In a modern day twist on writing a letter to your MP, the Voicebox Robot will be appearing in the Houses of Parliament from 12 – 16 October. The robot will directly articulate the care of a generation directly to politicians. We want as many young people to have their voices heard. All they need to do is visit Voicebox to write what they care about and it will be written out by the robot.
For further information on the Voicebox results, download the press release or visit the Voicebox website.
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Inspiring ideas for the future
3 billion. Thats the number of young people under twenty-five in the world - as threebillion points out, thats half the worlds population.
How can the energy and ideas of this group contribute to development? Well, Michael Boampong has some thoughts. We’ve featured Michael’s organisation, Young People We Care, previously on the vlabs blog.
Here, Michael discusses Youth-Led Development: Promoting Sustainable Development and Empowering Youth in an essay for the website Youthink!’s International Youth Day Essay Contest.
Responding to the essay question set by the World Bank, What are your tangible ideas for how youth can create effective, long-lasting change? other ideas include a TV channel by and for youth around the world, a wider look at how our attitudes can help shape our planet’s future and how obstacles like red-tape or limited finances should not young people from making a difference.
What are your ideas?
In preparation for the Y2Y Global Youth Conference 2009, the World Bank is seeking essays on Youth Entrepreneurship in times of crisis.
Get writing.
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Young people: Living online?
Recent stories regarding young people’s use of the internet and social media have raised an interesting question mark on an assumed trend; that young people live online.
First came the research note into young people’s media habits wrote by a 15 year-old intern at Morgan Stanley. The note, which describes his friends’ declining social media habits ended up on the front page of the Financial Times and caused a stir with City investors and media analysts alike.
And although it received a bashing on the blogs for being the views of one young guy, the launch of Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2009 seemed to back up part of the note by reporting that in the 15-24 age group, use of social networking sites declined from 55 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 to 50 per cent in 2009. This contrasts with Ofcom’s findings in 2006 which highlighted social media as the next big thing for 15-24 year-olds.
Gerry Greaney/Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
So what are young people doing online?
There is of course lots of research to quote in answering that question, but most of it is contradictory.
One interesting answer comes from Bill Wasik, a senior editor at Harper’s and the author of “And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture.” Wasik believes that as ‘old-model’ opportunities disappear in the real world; jobs, internships and grants, young creatives are turning to the Bright Lights, Big Internet to get their big break. Suggesting the growth of much more entrepreneurial and creative uses for the web when the real world is letting them down.
On life online and keeping creativity alive in the recession, check out ‘A little rant about ‘the lost generation’.
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Promoting a Creative Generation
Today marks the start of Promoting a Creative Generation, a two-day conference in Göteborg looking at the role of children and young people in the new culture and media landscape.
Taking place within the context of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation and hosted under the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, 350 experts and participants will discuss the creativity and cultural habits of children and young people.
Gunnar Seijbold/ Regeringskansliet.
Swedish Minister for Culture Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth says, “this conference is to learn more about both the possibilities and problems of the new culture and media landscape that our children and young people encounter. The digital cultural platforms create new and often difficult issues that, despite their different starting points, are clearly related. And it is almost always young people who are affected”.Keynote speakers include Renad Qubbaj from the Tamer Institute for Community Education in Ramallah and Professor Bamford, Director of Cultural Programmes for Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE), London.
The conference programme focuses on different aspects of daily life for children and young people, recognising that, today, children and young people are to a great extent not only consumers but also producers in the new media landscape. Sessions will look at how to strengthen children and young people’s right to culture, how traditional cultural institutions can find ways to remain attractive and accessible for the new generation, promote the exchange of experience and knowledge on how public investments can help to ensure that children and young people’s right to culture in all forms is guaranteed and will also include participants trying out the younger generation’s world of digital communication.
The opening and closing sessions can be watched via webcast
In the UK, very similar questions are being raised by The New Deal of the Mind coalition, chaired by the journalist and former political editor of the New Statesman, Martin Bright. The New Deal of the Mind is a grouping of like-minded individuals who believe we must not let the recession crush creativity and innovation. Learning the lessons of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1930s New Deal, the coalition believes the creative and digital industries can help provide a route through the recession for young people and others. Check out their latest report, ‘Do It Yourself: Cultural and Creative Self-Employed in Hard Times’, exploring self employment options in the cultural and creative sector.
Of course this blog celebrates how creativity and innovation are changing youth volunteering, but revolutionising how young people can share their time and talents with others is becoming of much broader concern, across many sectors.
Any thoughts on these issues?
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Podcast available from v/Demos roundtable on volunteering - compelling or compulsory?
On 2nd June Demos hosted a roundtable, with v, looking at new MORI research into young people’s attitudes to volunteering. Is it a good idea to compel young people to perform a kind of national civic service? Or should volunteering be something young people choose to do? Peter Bradwell speaks with Terry Ryall, Chief Executive of V, Noreesh Farooq and Marie Keplay from V20, Paul Oginsky, Youth Policy Advisor to David Cameron, and Alex Mitchell from the Institute of Directors.
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Spotlight: Orange Rock Corps
While almost every large corporate organisation, (especially those in the technology industry), encourage their employees to spend a few hours each month volunteering, or donate sums of money to a range of charities, it is quite surprising that only one has actually gone about associating their brand with volunteering in a huge way - namely, mobile phone operator Orange with Orange Rock Corps.
When I first heard of Orange Rock Corps, I thought it was a great initiative. Encouraging kids to volunteer and giving them tickets to gigs in return for their time? Considering the target audience, who probably spend half their waking time listening to music on their iPods anyway, it is a smart and relevant way of motivating them to engage with the community they are a part of.
One of the best parts is that all ‘payment’ is only in kind, and it is a win-win situation for all involved: the kids, who get to see their favourite artists live; the artists, who get to interact with extremely enthusiastic young fans, also earning good karma points in the bargain (plus it won’t hurt their image to be associated with an event like this); and Orange, who through association with the event, become known as a brand that genuinely puts their money where their mouth is, especially to a segment of the population that probably forms a huge proportion of their user base.
I’m surprised other brands haven’t cottoned on to this yet. If you know of any other big brands that are involved in volunteering, do let us know.
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Spotlight: Ashoka and Youth Venture
This presentation is rather interesting, because it ties up the concept of social entrepreneurship with youth action. Created by Ashoka and Youth Venture, it explains the background behind the two organisations and how working together can help shape a new generation of changemakers. For those not in the know, Ashoka is an organisation that supports and provides opportunities for social entrepreneurs who work across the world, mostly in developing countries, to create innovative and vital solutions to problems such as poverty and illiteracy. Youth Venture is a division of Ashoka focussing on young people. Take a look at the presentation:
Ashoka And Youth Venture OverviewView more presentations from Youth Venture.
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Nice piece, yourself.
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