Participate + Influence = Change
This workshop will provide practical training and advice for adults working with young people in a wide variety of sectors including local and national government policy developers, funders, clinicians, service managers, youth and community workers.
The workshop will give participants information on what youth participation is and is not, how to implement youth participation in their work and enable participants to consider ways to ensure young people are having a real say and influence over decisions being made in policy development, programmes, services, organisations and in their day-to-day work.
Written by Stephanie Hannelly, Ciarán Roddy and Tomás Skelly
My name is Stephen O'Leary. I’ve been a volunteer Club Leader with Foróige for about 3 years. I started a Foróige Club in Derrinturn, Co. Kildare and we now have 25 members! We have also started a Foróige Juniors Club this year which already has 36 members. I was elected as the Kildare representative on the National Council of Foróige and I also sit on Foróige’s National Executive. Some of the Foróige volunteers, staff and young people may know me from my tattoos! These are a big talking point with the new people I met while volunteering at Foróige's Reference Panel meet up this year.
The Foróige Reference Panel aim is to bring forward ideas from our various regions across Ireland for group discussion and make recommendations to the National Council of Foróige on issues that affect young people. A number of representatives from each county are elected at Regional Conferences to attend the meetings. Throughout the year two meetings are held. This year they were held on February 22-24 and October 11-13. Jessica says:
