Course to give young people the skills to campaign and make their voices heard

15 April 2005

Young people from Belfast and London get the opportunity to change their worlds next week when they take part in an innovative training course run by Y Care International.

‘Changing Your World – Campaigning and Lobbying Skills for Young People’, which takes place from 19-21 April, includes an afternoon spent meeting MPs and Peers. The residential course aims to give young people the skills and confidence to campaign on the issues they feel strongly about. It will include sessions on creating a campaign action plan, working with the media and lobbying MPs.

One of the co-trainers, Lord Rupert Redesdale, said: “This course gives young people the chance to meet MPs and Peers to exchange ideas and opinions. There is a general perception that young people are uninterested and apathetic when it comes to politics. The fact that the course was oversubscribed shows that the opposite is true”.

Kelly Drake, who, along with Lord Redesdale is a ‘Changing Your World’ course trainer, said: “Our biggest aim is to inspire young people to believe that they have a voice, that they can make their voices heard, and that politicians will listen.”

‘Changing Your World’ is part of Y Care International’s global youth work programme, which helps young people to make sense of a complex world. The programme, currently aimed at YMCAs in the UK and Ireland, allows young people to learn about global issues such as refugees and asylum seekers, HIV/AIDS, gang membership and conflict, and make connections with Y Care International’s projects, raising awareness of the problems faced by young people around the world.

Matthew Jackson, Campaigns and Global Youth Work Director, said: “Y Care International works with the young people who don’t get noticed by many other development agencies. Marginalised and disadvantaged young people can make global-local links between the issues affecting them personally and the problems affecting young people across the developing world. They can become powerful voices for change.”