Organised by CitizenLab, this free webinar will focus on participatory budgeting and other youth engagement work in North Ayrshire Council, Scotland, as well as wider reflections on youth participation in the UK and Europe.
To find out more and sign up go to: https://www.citizenlab.co/webinar
More information from the CitizenLab website below
Engaging young residents in the policy making process
Declining levels of youth political participation pose a challenge to many democracies. Young people seem to have lower levels of political engagement when it comes to participating in traditional political activities such as voting and being members of political parties.
So how can you get youths to participate in your local community engagement projects? What’s the secret to reaching them and getting them to take part in the policy-making process? And how can a digital engagement platform help?
To find answers to these questions, we’ll discuss successful examples of youth engagement at the local level with Donna Anderson, Participation and Democracy Officer at North Ayrshire Council, and Jez Hall, founding director of the social enterprise Shared Future CIC.
Guests:
Donna Anderson is Participation and Democracy Officer at North Ayrshire Council. Leading on youth work in North Ayrshire, she led the local authority to be the first to hold regular Joint Cabinet meetings bringing North Ayrshires Chief Executive, Council Leader and Cabinet members to meetings where young people can engage to make positive change. She also leads and embeds their COSLA Gold Youth Participation and Citizenship Strategy. Furthermore, Donna was instrumental in the introduction and embedding of Youth PB across the authority and moving the voting system online. As a result, record-breaking numbers of young people participated in the PB vote.
Jez Hall is the is founding director of the social enterprise Shared Future CIC. For over 25 years Jez has worked in diverse communities, facilitating deliberative and participatory democracy processes and delivering research and policy work. A founding director of the social enterprise Shared Future CIC, and a Greater Manchester resident for over 30 years, he specialises in participatory budgeting, co-production and social enterprise. Jez works occasionally as a consultant to the World Bank, coordinates the UK PB Network website and been on the advisory board of the North American Participatory Budgeting Project. Previously he was a non-executive director of a Manchester Primary Health Care Trust, and continues to support grassroots projects in his neighbourhood.