Young people were given the opportunity to make their voices heard on issues that matter most to them through a new Springboard Opps initiative.
NextGen is a youth-led advisory group composed of participants from across Springboard programmes.
The Community Relations Council supports Springboard Opps through its Core Funding Scheme.
Leading and Learning
For those involved in NextGen, it has allowed them to develop their capacity to lead as well as learn how to explore and facilitate the views of other young people through devising and delivering training.
And together the panel of 12 Youth Ambassadors has been working closely with young people from disadvantaged areas across Belfast. Members of the advisory group provide peer mentoring, as well as setting up youth panels on issues of interest.
Running from January to December 2022, the year-long programme kicked off with an extensive survey developed by the youth panel to identify the most common issues faced by youth today.
Over 80 young people responded, and the results highlighted four main issues identified by today’s youth: body image; mental health; unemployment; and debt/poverty.
Panel Workshops
Armed with these findings, the panel spent months developing and conducting workshops to address each of the top four concerns.
These provided participants aged between 18-25 years – many of whom have battled their own complex issues – with a platform to voice their opinions and ideas, while also creating solutions.
It is now hoped that the outcome of their work can be used to influence decision makers, allowing policy to be designed in a way that can cater directly to the needs of Northern Ireland’s most disadvantaged youth.
Giving Youth a Voice
The NextGen survey results are available to view here: https://springboard-nextgen.co.uk/