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Five Nations Youth Symposium Interaction with British Irish Parliamentary Assembly
Start date: Sep 23, 2016, End date: May 22, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

In October 2013, supported by the previous Erasmus programme, representatives, trustees, staff and young people from Youth Cymru, UK Youth, Youth Scotland, Youth Action Northern Ireland and Youth Work Ireland met to formalise their long standing cooperative working arrangements between these long established national youth voluntary organisations, and to form the British / Irish Strategic Youth Partnership. The Partnership identified five key priorities on which the member youth organisations would collaborate. These priorities are: 1) Promoting the value of youth work collectively2) Building contemporary alliances between young people and those who work with young people3) Connecting young people through civic engagement4) Increase advocacy and campaigning work with and on behalf of young people5) Improving well-being, resilience and employability in young peopleThe partnership identified a need to share good practice in youth participation, engage young people across the five nations and jurisdictions to improve mutual cooperation and understanding and to enable young people to engage effectively with decision makers. We identified the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly, the forum that brings together parliamentarians from across the five nations and jurisdictions as an opportunity to address these identified needs. The Five Nations Youth Symposium Interaction with British Irish Parliamentary Assembly will bring together young people who take part in the youth participation structures of Youth Cymru, UK Youth, Youth Scotland, Youth Action Northern Ireland and Youth Work Ireland to identify issues faced by young people across the five nations and jurisdictions and identify policy calls to address these issues. The young people will then meet with senior parliamentarians from the five nations and jurisdictions at a meeting of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Young people will present their policy calls to the parliamentarians, asking for their support. Those calls which the parliamentarians are able to support will then be raised with the respective governments in the five nations and jurisdictions through the democratic structures of which the parliamentarians are members. Young people will interact with parliamentarians in their own nations and jurisdictions, supporting the delivery of the identified policy calls. Young people will then come together again to reflect on their learning through their engagement with the project, their relationships with the parliamentarians and the influence that the project has had on forwarded progress on the delivery of the identified policy calls. The project will directly engage 30 young people, at least 15 of who have had fewer opportunities to participate. The 30 young participants will then bring their learning back in to the youth participation structures of the partner organisations, potentially influencing hundreds of thousands of young people across the five nations and jurisdictions. The project aims to improve young people's understanding of decision-making structures in their own nation and jurisdiction and across the five nations and jurisdictions, improve youth participation practice in the five partner organisations, enhance the understanding of senior parliamentarians of the issues facing young people, the action needed to address these issues and of young people as a resource to promote effective youth-facing policy. The project will be delivered through in-country youth participation activities, two transnational youth seminars and a British / Irish Youth / Parliamentarians Debate. It is envisaged that the project will enhance the skills and confidence of young participants, improve the understanding of parliamentarians and improve youth participation practice in the participating youth organisations. Potential longer-term benefits include longer-term improvement in the development and delivery of youth-facing policy in the five nations and jurisdictions due to the enhanced understanding of parliamentarians, young people's enhanced knowledge of how to influence decision-making and improved ability of partner organisations to interact with and engage decision-makers. Long term impact will be widened through the dissemination of the project's findings. Young people participating in the project will decide on the dissemination approach and it is envisaged that this will include the Erasmus+ Projects Results Platform, online platforms and the use of national and European wide networks.
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