Fostering News from Children England - Needed: young people to re-design the welfare state

Do you work with children and young people who want to change public services, or give voice to the experiences of other children and young people?

We're looking for young people aged 13 - 21 to lead the next phase of the ChildFair State Inquiry: research and development of a new vision for the welfare state by children and young people themselves, with support from a sounding board of policy experts.

This team of Young Leaders will be supported by the brilliant Leaders Unlocked to design and deliver the research project, engaging a total of around 2,500 children and young people from the communities they live in.

They'll be able to challenge issues in areas like education, housing and public spaces, and come up with creative proposals for putting children's needs at the heart of local and national policy and practice. 

The team will:

• Develop their research and facilitation skills
• Give other children and young people a voice
• Explore their own and others’ experiences of public services
• Work with a panel of experts to create proposals for change that are as rigorous as possible and as radical as necessary
• Become, if they choose, active campaigners for the vision they create

No formal experience is required! We'd like to hear from children and young people from as wide a range of backgrounds and life experiences as possible, and Leaders Unlocked staff can discuss with you what each young person's needs are and how we can support them to participate.

All reasonable expenses relating to the project will be covered for young people. We will also cover the costs of chaperone travel for under-18s and participants with a need for additional support. 

If you work in a setting where you feel it would be more appropriate to host a research session by the Young Leaders once they've designed their plan, or otherwise discuss a more tailored activity to enable children and young people you work with to contribute their views, we would also love to hear from you. 

This will be a huge journey for everyone involved – for the young people who want to start shaping the state they live in; for the professionals who will hear what children want from their schools, hospitals, streets and housing developments; and for the welfare state, which is strangled by marketisation, managerialism and austerity and desperately needs a new direction.

- Read the full description of the work and the role here, and download materials you can circulate to practitioners and young people themselves.

The deadline for applications is Friday 27th September.

Contact Chloë with any questions about the overall project, or Anna with questions about the Young Leader role.

Source:
https://www.childrenengland.org.uk

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