‘Effective youth work is both developmental and creative. It can and does lead to the development and growth of social and emotional competence.’ National Development Project, ‘Step It Up – defining the purpose of Youth Work and Measuring Performance,’ Strathclyde University et al, 2004.

Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child outlines the right of every young person to voice their opinion and have their opinions listened to and taken seriously. One of the priorities in the Scottish Executive’s Partnership Agreement, ‘A Partnership for a Better Scotland,’ is a commitment to develop a National Youth Work Strategy.

In 2005, in support of the development of the potential Strategy, YouthLink Scotland’s Policy Forum published a ‘Statement on Youth Work’ which found that ‘youth work has three essential and definitive features’:

• young people choose to participate. The young person takes part voluntarily. She/he chooses to be involved, not least because they want to relax, meet friends and have fun.
• youth work operates on young people’s own personal and recreational territory – within both their geographic and interest communities. The young person’s life experience is respected and forms the basis for shaping the agenda in negotiation with peers and youth workers.
• youth work recognises the young person and the youth worker as partners in a learning process. The young person is recognised as an active partner who can, and should, have opportunities and resources to shape their lives. The relationship and dialogue between the young person and youth worker is central to the learning process.

As this shows, there is increasing emphasis on empowering young people, developing their social and emotional competencies and learning experiences. Although, for the YES, this requires more initial input with regards to staff support, it does in turn allow young people to play an even greater role in leading and running the service.

Review
To ensure these features are an integral feature the organisation, the YES underwent a review process during 2005. The outcome was an improvement plan aimed at changing the infrastructure of the agency, so that it could operate more effectively as it worked to meet these changing demands.

As a result, the YES Advisory Group is being reformed, with a higher proportion of young people’s representation (50%).

Two residential events were held in Girvan, 22-24 April 2005 and 27–29 January 2006, to build up the capacity of young people to take on these and other responsibilities open to them through the volunteer programme. The production of the YES Volunteer Handbook, Volunteer Development Plan and individual project plans - coupled with the success of the capacity building and development of young people through the support group programme - has increased demands from other agencies and from young people for the YES and its staff to deliver more of this kind of work.

The YES is operated on a part-time basis. Restructuring has allowed the agency to address this to some degree.

The success of the support groups and the increasing demand for counselling has highlighted the need for a dedicated youth counselor to be based within the YES. Funding / options for partnership work are currently being explored.

In order to meet demand / explore new opportunities for developing volunteering, the YES is seeking funding for a Volunteers Co-ordinator. If successful, this post will provide the appropriate level of support necessary for volunteers and their projects - and support the running of Youth Achievement Awards within the YES (a service which has been limited due by the amount of staff time available). Youth Achievement Awards allow young people to build skills in a structured but informal way, through projects led by them, with the possibility of formal accreditation if they wish.

YES has secured a year-long volunteer placement, supported by Project Scotland, which will assist in the development of the volunteer programme.

Link to Project Scotland website

Projects will continue to form a gateway to wider cultural and educational experiences, promoting personal development.