Life skills goes global

For the past three years, Y Care International has been supporting Kingston and Wimbledon YMCA to carry out a global life skills project.

The project, which ended in March 2009, integrated global issues into the existing activities of the YMCA, with the aim of creating a flagship project that can be rolled out to other YMCAs around the country.
 
Kingston and Wimbledon YMCA were already working intensively with 70-80 of its 250 hostel residents each year, helping to develop life skills which would help the young people to re-integrate into the community. Y Care International worked with the YMCA to integrate global issues into the delivery of their life skills training. The global life skills project uses the motivation young people have around global issues to develop broader individual learning, from literacy and numeracy, to computer skills, campaigning and lobbying. Some of the key themes young people covered during the three years course included fair-trade, globalisation, HIV/AIDS and youth justice.

"I’m glad that there is a project like this, I finally feel like there is space for me in the world." Participant in the February 2009 course

After three years of running the global life skills course across the YMCA’s two residential projects in Wimbledon and Surbiton, the course gained accreditation from George Williams College so that young people who participated were able to receive formal accreditation for their involvement. The course received further external recognition when Grenfell Housing Association, a local association which supports many of the young residents to move on, made taking the course a condition of supplying move on accommodation.

“This kind of work has proven to be very successful and in some cases…even life-changing.” External evaluation by George Williams College.

As part of the project, young course participants were able to take part in YCI’s ‘Changing Your World’ course, which aims to equip young people with the skills and confidence to plan and run a campaign on issues they feel passionate about. During the course, young people spend a day at the Houses of Parliament, seeing parliament in action, learning how to lobby MPs and meeting MPs and Peers.  

Over the three years, youth workers at the YMCA have seen young people flourish. They have been involved in a whole host of global youth work and campaigning activities, including campaigns on HIV and AIDS, writing and producing a song and music video about youth justice (check out the video here), taking part in international global youth work visits to South Africa, India and a European YMCA festival in Prague. Young people were also involved in lobbying the UK parliament as part of Y Care’s Youth Justice in Action campaign and taking part in a delegation to the UN Human Rights Council.

"You taught us we can make a difference and everyday people can play a big part in changing their community for the better." Participant in the February 2009 course.

The course has far exceeded initial expectations. In the beginning, it was anticipated that 50% of the YMCA’s residents would participate, in fact 70% participated and over the three years, 267 young people have taken part. Y Care International will now roll out the course to 150 YMCAs around the UK and Ireland and has produced an off the shelf resource.

DOWNLOAD THE GLOBAL LIFES SKILLS RESOURCE PACK

Alternatively, please contact us if you would like a hard copy of the pack, which includes a cd to accompany the course. Tel: 020 7549 3150.

A full report of this project features on the DEA (Development Education Association) website. You can also download it below.

Download the full report here