During July, youth charity Woodcraft Folk’s Eireny (Development Officer) and Eedie (Trustee) attended a workshop as part of the Journey to Youth Leadership project with organisation IFM-SEI.
The programme focused on delivering sessions around active youth participation and good governance practice among youth organisations.
Participant Eireny says:
“Good governance relates to organisational structures and activities that promote transparency, inclusion, diversity and accountability within youth organisations that foster meaningful and effective youth participation across all levels of the organisation’s structure. There were some amazing discussions that occurred during the workshops which were produced into a handy document which can be shared with organisations.”
The workshop saw youth organisations from: the UK, Austria, India, Poland, Norway, Spain, Chile and Nicagrua. The discussion also opened the minds of participants to the different ways organisations engage with young people, the positives they already practise but where they may be lacking.
The toolkit created as a result of the workshop, breaks down key terms as well as outlining a step by step guide on how to practise good governance; an insightful resource for organisations.
Below is a brief outline of the steps:
- Ensure that mechanism of constant feedback is implemented
- Give young people voting rights in the organisational structure
- Ensure that proper training is provided for the youth, especially for young people who are taking pon leading positions
- Establish a mentoring scheme
- Produce a handover document or a toolkit
- Work and annual plans aimed at issues children and youth are interested in and facing
- Give opportunities to young people to take on volunteer positions in the organisation’s structures
- Engage more youth in your structures
- Know when to give space to younger generations
- Use youth-friendly language
- Be mindful of the time of the activities and meetings
You can find the toolkit below where you can explore in more detail what was discussed at the workshop and how this can be applied to a Woodcraft Folk group/district or outside organisation.