Live - In general

Youth Summit Every Child Matters workshop summary

billb — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:34:25 +0100

The five workshops involving young people and a range of policy makers and practitioners were a highlight of this two day event. Here is the report from the workshops, giving a rich amount of information

Youth Summit Ten Commandments - from Bishop Roger

tim — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:17:15 +0100

At the closing of the Youth Summit - Chair of the NYA, Bishop Roger Sainsbury set out his 'Ten Commandments' for those at the Youth Summit. We've managed to track down a copy of them here...

YOUTH SUMMIT TEN COMMANDMENTS

Do not demonize or use young people as scapegoats for the social ills of society.
Do not be afraid of speaking out about the value of good youth work.
Establish entitlement for all young people to good quality youth services.
Involve young people in decision making at every level and give respect to their views.
Campaign both locally and nationally for sustained and sufficent investment
in services for young people.
Create youth centres / hubs in each community with access in respect of
transport, physical access , equality and diversity.
Work together with other public services to encourage young people to
choose health.
Campaign for a defined programme of continuing professional development
to increase the skills of all who work with young people and promote better multi-disciplinary working.
Recognize the right of all young people to locally accessible, free , confidential and impartial information, advice, counselling and support.
Encourage and enable young people to participate in buiding peaceful societies based on human rights, diversity and inclusion , in a spirit of respect , tolerance and mutual understanding.

BISHOP ROGER SAINSBURY
CHAIR - THE NATIONAL YOUTH AGENCY

Participation Works

tim — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:51:21 +0100

Web Link

http://www.participationworks.org.uk

Video

Righting wrongs - the implications of adopting the Convention on the Rights of the Child

billb — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:20:42 +0100

Check out the Rights Stuff link where we have added presentations, briefings, a quiz and other resources for you on the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Youth Summit Live: Summary

tim — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:26:10 +0100

The Youth Summit has been a great success for all those who attended, bringing together practitioners, policy makers and young people to discuss the key issues affecting the implementation of the Government’s ten-year strategy for children and young people. A wealth of ideas, debate and dialogue were generated, the most relevant of which have been captured as video interviews, podcasts, powerpoints and transcripts downloadable from this website. We will ensure it informs our work as we move forward and hope you find it valuable as well.

Throughout the Summit we were recording workshops and plenary sessions through Youth Summit Live. Below are links to some of the key posts in each theme.

Staying Safe

Summary workshop notes from day 1: assessment of the challenges and a full list of day 1 workshop notes give an overview of the staying safe topics covered. The workshop was led by young people from Corby using an attitude finder activity
Discussions of the harm caused Mosquito devices played a big part in the workshop, as the young people from Corby tell is in this video interview and as a workshop participant reflects in this one.
Workshop notes from day 2: priorities for action give a sense of the issues that participants wanted to take forward.
Darshna from Churchfield Primary School also used the blogging feature on Youth Summit Live to offer an imagined advice column to young people on issues of bullying.

Being Healthy

The summary workshop notes from day 1: assessment of the challenges in health give an overview of where we are falling short for young people, with all the different issues identified covered in this post.
Workshop notes from day 2: priorities for action gives a wide-ranging list of priorities from the health workshops, focussing in particular on funding and investment, better sex and relationship education, and improved training and sharing of good practise.
A what's changed example and two videos from the Maypole centre help explore some good practise sharing
Plus - we captured the launch of Youth Access's new resources on commissioning mental health services for young people

Enjoying and Achieving

The workshop notes from day 1: assessment of the challenges build up a clear picture of where change is needed.
Young people from NACRO Newcastle who led these workshops put enjoying and achievement into practise whilst at the summit - by making the most of their London visit and working hard to build a presentation overnight including their photos from around the city that fed into day 2.
The workshop notes from day 2: priorities for action identifies a range of campaigning, spending, policy and practise changes required.
A presentation from Actions Speak Louder highly commended project Rolling Base

Having Economic Wellbeing

The workshop notes from day 1: assessment of the challenges set out some serious topics for discussion on day 2.
But as the woorkshop notes from day 2: priorities for action show - the group generated practical forward planning ideas and shared examples of where action to ensure young people economic wellbeing can work.
We also capture Anthony Lawton's three tests for good housing through Bill's blogging and a discussion has developed on this blog post about gangs placed in the economic wellbeing category.

Making a positive contribution

The making a positive contribution workshop notes from day 1: give a wider ranging assessment of the challenges, added to by points from the young volunteers helping lead the session
The notes from day 2 with priorities are here. The group had a particularly interesting set of discussions about compulsory volunteering.
Mike from Yomo, watching Youth Summit Live whilst working in Ireland, shared some background resources that might be useful for organisations exploring young peoples volunteering and participation.

Plus - outside the core themes of the Youth Summit we had lots of activity on Youth Summit Live. This poem started of a wave of creativity, surfed by Barney from conference organisers NSA with this poetic input. Holly Hill proved to be star blogger, regularly dropping into the media centre to share her reflections. Plus - Tom Wylie's suggestion that there be a national Youth Board sparked a lot of discussion, including an online poll and a couple of video interviews.

Where next for Youth Summit Live?

The Youth Summit Live website will continue to be available and open for contributions for another couple of weeks. After that, we'll pause the ability to add information - but will keep it available so that practioners, policy makers and young people alike can share the collected wisdom and insights of all Youth Summit Live contributors.

The National Youth Agency, supported by Practical Participation is starting a deeper exploration of how methods like this can help us to communicate with and deepen our dialogue with young people and other NYA stakeholder alike. We'd welcome your continued comments, reflections and input.

The Youth Summit Live model

Youth Summit Live was concieved, designed, developed and run in just under a fortnight by Tim Davies of Practical Participation, working with the organising team for Youth Summit live from the National Youth Agency and Neil Stuarts Associates. It was championed and supported by Bill Badham. The Roving Reporters team made the media happen by roving through the Youth Summit gathering photos, reports and more. If you have any feedback about Youth Summit Live; you're interested in exploring how a Youth Summit Live style model could work at an event you are running; or you are interested in wider explorations of how new media can work for your organisation or project, please do contact tim@practicalparticipation.co.uk.

Darshana's Spiritual Area 2

XtroblemakerX — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:51:41 +0100

Dear Darshana
Life may not always go as planned one day you might be happy and another sad. One day you laugh joke and be happy and the very next you cry sulk and go through severe pain. You see I have this friend she is one of my best friends we usto have the best time togetherPlaying laughing and making up jokes. After a year of being best friends she just suddenly changes and starts acting like a big bad bully I don't know what to do. You are my last hope please tell me how to deal with this situation.

My advice

Tell your friend how you feel don't hold in your feeelings. If you do not think you can face her write her a letter as detailed as the one you have written me. If after that she still continues to do what she is doing. Then tell a teavher and see what happens. However if none of these ideas work start to take things seriously and tell the deputy head or head your self.

Todays Spiritual thought
Though there are many hurdles in lifejump over them and continue the race of life.

Do you need any help with anything Email me Darshana and I will see how I can help you.

Young People in Malawi - Africa!

masyomo — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:25:13 +0100

The young people involved in supporting this project became involved by volunteering after they had attended courses themselves. They're from a broad range of backgrounds from different areas of the UK & Ireland.

Our work in Africa has largely been about a different kind of challenge for the young people that volunteer with us to deliver our training. In the UK we work with many of the "most deprived" areas and often hear about where communities we work with 'rank' on the indices of deprivation etc. Our volunteers are from these same areas - so this is a separate challenge working with people in 'absolute poverty'.

The average life expectancy in Malawi is just 36! It is by all measures one of the poorest countries in the world. And yet in the Zomba region we worked in two young men - Ernest & Giles are trying to make a difference. We're supporting them for at least the next 3 years because if people can make a difference in those circumstances they definitely can over here!

In this film Ernest talks a little about the Grace Orphan & Disabled Care Group and their hopes for the future. You can read more about the programme on the YoMo website at www.yomo.co.uk - just click on the link on the front page. You can also send donations by sms text message by texting 'YOMO' to 82070

If you'd like more info please use the forum on the YoMo site.

Life

XtroblemakerX — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:10:47 +0100

Life
Life is not a fairy tale
It does not always end happily
Fear may rise in you
And never find a way out
So you must live life joyfully
And enjoy what you have
Whilst it lasts
Because the last breathe you breathe is the breath of life in future
To do this you must
Search through your soul
Have the strength to stand up tall
The power of not knowing and letting go
You must find a way to reach happiness and to do that
You go through hard times and endure many tears
At the end you will be free from all the bad things and live a new life
The most important thing is
To believe in yourself and be you.

Remember live life and treat it as the greatest gift in life that you can think of.

Churchfields Soundwaves project

Roving Reporters — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:59:03 +0100

Pupils from Churchfield School have been interviewing attendees at the Youth Summit Conference describing their experience as “fun, exciting and amazing”. The pupils found interviewing the MPs a particularly special experience making them feel “like officials” as they questioned their understanding of the environment.

The group learnt a lot from their experience finding it interesting to see different people’s understanding on the word ‘environment’. “I got to learn that different people understand things differently”.

The school is part of the soundwaves project funded by the Ministry of Justice

In the end...

Tal — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:57:40 +0100

Soo.. only the last session left then the day is done. Its gone kinda quick and has been really intense, but Ive enjoyed it loads! Looking forward to seeing the outcomes of the outcome of the event be put into practice.

Interesting

ish — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:45:01 +0100

This was a great event.. for the first time i ended up listening to all the speeches.. it was fun all in all.. whether it was working hard to produce a newsletter and collect information or panicing about giving a speech..or even just asking people some questions at 9 in the morning.. it was a new experience.. and thanks to NYA i get to be a part of it..

Until next timee
Nuff luvv Xx

Darshana's Spiritual Area

darshana — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:03:36 +0100

Dear Darshana,
There is someone I know. Just think of the person as a big bully. The person was one of my best friends and now she has just changed. I need you to help me. I feel like there is no one but you that I could relate to. Please help me understand what is going on I need your help.

My advice
Talk to her and tell her how you feel and if that does not work start to take things seriously and talk to either your parents or tell your teacher and finally if that does'nt work tell the head or deputy head. And see what happens.

Todays Spiritaul thought

Don't let the past hold you captive move on and start anew.

A Fun Time

Pryncess Therryi — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:22:26 +0100

My FInal Blog For Today I've Had A Really Good Time For The LaST 2 Days , Meetin new people and having such a GOOD Time, i've built new relationships with people whom i have never met, it has been an experience, talkking to adults who share a passion for volunteering and helping others just as much as i do... i am happy that u have had the opportunity to take part in such an event.../. I can say that it is seriously excel lent and that it has been an occassion which i can never forget Lotsa Love ♥ Therryi ♥ Over And Out

Rights Now - young people getting a better deal?

Becky Sharp — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:37:20 +0100

Right now the UK Government is reporting to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on its progress for children and young people's rights. Children and young people have basic rights that are protected by most of the governments across the world so that children and young people living in that country can get a better deal.

At the Youth Summit we have been asking people:

"If you were on the committee on the rights of the child and had the power to tell the government off, what would be your top issues?"

These were some of the answers:

Widening of equalities gaps – child poverty a huge issue

Educational under achievement for bottom 10%
Treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, especially unaccompanied minors
Children in care generally fail
Anti-social behaviour – unreasonably labelled children as criminals
The fact that we lock up more young people than anyone else

Too many young people in the poverty trap
Young people’s voice still not heard and a lot of tokenism – don’t always act on the advice and the recommendations they make
Don’t take young people seriously enough

Movement down of salary differences: successfully lower than 10 years ago
Not enough facilities
Public transport
Tuition fees
Sexual health services
Informal facilities for young people
The way we deal with young people who are in trouble with the police

What do you think? Let us know...

Look for more information on the files attached or follow the link to getreadyforgeneva.org.uk

Ramblings of a Conference Bod

Barney — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:13:53 +0100

I work at NSA
Making conferences everyday
The Youth Summit was the best
By far and away

Young People and policy-makers
Coming together like policy bakers
We've moved from words to action
Hopefully there will be some takers

So have we all understood
What it means to wear a hood?
And is the PM listening
Like a good politician should?

We've heard so much inspiration
Young People from across the nation
I'm sure it won't end
When they get to the train station

Many thanks to everyone involved. The NYA are doing a great job in continuiing to push policy for young people up the agenda. Thanks to Tim and the media crew for a wicked site and giving the Summit something different. I hope our organisation was good and we've looked after you well.
We look forward to seeing you all again,

Barney (age 28 and 1/2)

Roving Reporters - Newsletter

tim — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:50:52 +0100

The Roving Reporters were up till late last night creating an overnight newsletter to give a picture of the whole event.

Get your copy here (PDF).

The Speech... (feedback from day 1....)

Roving Reporters — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:43:08 +0100

Well, the hard part is now over.. not the greatest thing having to wake up to give a speech infront of a 150 odd people. Actually, to be honest it wasn't as bad as we anticipated as things worked out okay in the end. It was a mixture between excitement and nerves. Oh well.. all over now so the rest of the day to look forward to.

You can see the slides from our feedback this morning below:

breakfast & bruises

murphle — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:27:28 +0100

second day.
too early and pulling the suicase down the stairs was bound to end badly.
we arrived just on time and sat down to listen to the first and second speeches. health & education. i found these too long but some of the points raised were important and useful, needing to be taken into consideration for the future. in particular, the way we interact with adults and vice versa about drugs, sex and alcohol abuse ..
however!! from the gala dinner last night, someone said we shouldn't be called 'young people' because it separates us into an alien race and this isn't right.
we are your children ... LOOK WHAT YOU CREATED :O

Youth Board? Yes. Minister? No

tim — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:57:47 +0100

Discussions about the merits of a Youth Board have continued today since Tom Wylie's suggestion in favour of the creation of one in his keynote speech earlier...

In this video Dai Hudd from Prospect suggests that a board might be a good idea - but having it chaired by a Minister could cause problems...

Run Effective Meetings!

masyomo — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:24:49 +0100

Web Link

http://www.yomotraining.com/training-guides/training/resources-for-meetings/

Video

U Gotta Read This

Pryncess Therryi — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:41:51 +0100

The workshop was absoulutley FAB!!! WELL......I Was Really Surprised At The Turnout In Our Workshop We Played A Really Fun Game @ The Begining Called Around The World Created By ME!!!! I Appreciate and respect All The People Who Contributed To Our Workshop, I Can Say We As Young People Care, Especially Me Thank You All..... And I Would Love A NAtional YOUTH BOARD NOW ♥ ♥ **LOTZA** ♥ ♥ Therryi ♥ ♥

Media Box - getting started....realising your creativity

yen — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:39:44 +0100

Web Link

http://www.media-box.co.uk

Video

Tick me off

golden — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:16:45 +0100

Tick box which one do i fit into, don't i fit in all of them. I'm boxed in all your boxes and can't see the way out.
You've labled me so much i can't even define myself. what would your form look like without enthnicty, sexuality, educational staus. Would your form just leave me as a indvidual or would i still be boxed in by your superfical reality!!!!!!

We are all flesh and blood in the end. it's all about where you want to go and not where you have been.

Strawberry cake and Ketchup

Hormonal Haircuts — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:39:18 +0100

So the first session consisted of very very confusing conversation. Long words and endless powerpoints lead to me being cmpletely confused and distracted by the most dynamic blue ball point pen.

One of my many souvenirs....But the best obviously.

The second session was amazingly inspiring. I mean who would have thought?! a traveling "Rolling Base". Mental.

Anyway I was very inspired and are now thinking about doing seomthing in my local area! Terrible how I am inspired by a bus.

The food was good. Reeeaaallly good. The variety was major.

We met this cool man. He was cool. I liked the way that he spoke to us and made jokes about "pimp my ride" - Terrible how the only connection older people can think of to relate with us was a MTV Show. Brilliant :D

And now I'm blogging. Again. Mental. Looking forward to the media thing. It sounds good :)

Until Another Blog!!
Floyllumn.

Young People in the Media

tim — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:40:24 +0100

A survey released today has shown just how much coverage of young people in the media is negative. I caught up with two of the NYA Team at the Youth Summit to get their views:

Earlier on today I also got chance to talk to Leigh from Media Box to ask her to explain what media box is all about and how it can help challenge negative media portrayal of young people.

Check out the full press release

YOUNG PEOPLE 'SEEN BUT NOT HEARD' IN NATIONAL MEDIA

9 out of 10 stories on young people don't report what they say

Less than 1 in 4 stories are positive about young people

A news survey for Young People Now magazine by TNS Media Intelligence
shows only 22.7% of national media coverage about young people is
positive/favourable. The survey findings are launched today at the start
of the national Youth Summit in London.

Broadcast media in particular concentrated on negative perceptions of
young people, with an astonishing 87.5% of broadcast clips unfavourable
towards young people.

While adults were quoted in 38% of stories about young people, a young
person's quotation appeared in only 11% of the coverage. If the views of
young people were heard at all, they were often heard only after adult
expects on the matter in hand had been quoted.

The survey covered all daily and Sunday nationals, all major and most of
the smaller broadcast news outlets, monitoring coverage for one week in
May 2007.

*  Broadcast coverage tended to be of short duration and focused on the
more headline-grabbing incidents of violence and crime.

*  The most popular Broadsheet newspaper topic was education, accounting
for 38% of coverage about young people.

*  Tabloid newspapers included both violent crime and education, but they
were also more concerned than other media about the sexualisation of
childhood that accounted for 16% of the tabloids' coverage.

While in any one week particular stories might dominate a news-agenda,
there is little to suggest that the negative coverage of young people is
atypical. The range of topics covered by the national media was
predominantly negative, with an emphasis on problem behaviour and young
people the instigators or victims. The survey also follows previous
studies for Young People Now. Initial research in 2004 showed that 3 out
of 4 stories about young people were negative.

Ravi Chandiramani, editor of Young People Now, said: "Over the last
three years, there has been an increase in positive coverage of young
people. However, as our survey shows there is a great deal more to do,
in particular for broadcast news media. All too often young people are
seen but not heard. This not only reinforces negative images and
stereotypes of young people, but risks further alienating young people
in communities."

Philip Lynch, director of evaluation at TNS Media Intelligence
commented: "Young people were closely associated with negative issues
such as crime, violence and antisocial behaviour. Other issues such as
education, the sexualisation of childhood and gangs often carried an
element of distress that adults are failing young people."

Young People Now will hand out its 2007 Positive Images Awards at The
Youth Summit, in association with The National Youth Agency, as part of
its campaign to improve the media portrayal of young people.

- Ends -

For further details or media interviews with Young People Now, TNS Media
Intelligence and The National Youth Agency, contact:

*  Jonathan Hopkins (tel: 01235 559556)

Notes to editors:-

The Youth Summit: is a two-day event 25/26 June that brings together
Government Ministers, senior officials, leading policy makers, service
providers and a panel of 100 young people from across England, forging
dynamic links between young people, communities and government.
www.youthsummit.co.uk 

Positive Images: a full list of the 2007 award winners will be available
from Young People Now on Monday 25th June. The awards will be presented
at 5.30pm, at The Youth Summit, New Connaught Rooms, London WC2. Young
People Now launched Positive Images in October 2004 as a campaign:

*  to improve the portrayal of young people in the media
*  to encourage media to look for positive angles when reporting stories
about young people
*  to incentivise youth groups and young people to be proactive in
contacting the media for local councils to celebrate young people as
part of a long-term strategy.

Young People Now: is the only weekly title for those who work with young
people aged 11-25. It was launched in 1989 by The National Youth Agency
and has been published by Haymarket Media Group since January 2003.
Haymarket is the UK's largest privately owned magazine publisher, and
Haymarket titles are now published in over 30 countries in more than 100
editions.

The National Youth Agency: supports those involved in young people's
personal and social development and works to enable all young people to
fulfil their potential within a just society. www.nya.org.uk


TNS Media Intelligence: TNS Media Intelligence UK has been at the
forefront of the media monitoring industry since its inception fifty
years ago and is a recognised industry expert in audiovisual tracking.
In January 2007 it merged with Presswatch, founded in 1996 and well
known as a high-quality information service provider and independent
reputation analyst in the UK.

Positive Images Survey 2007: TNS Media Intelligence monitored the tone
of coverage of young people during the week of 19-25 May 2007. In total,
304 items of coverage were recorded, of which 104 were broadcast, 90
broadsheet and 110 tabloid.

Read This

Pryncess Therryi — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:19:23 +0100

Ello, everybody how you are you i'm havin a really good time today, the hotel is really nice, wish u we're all here, the conference is much better then the "Youth Participation Conference" last week... Lets just say that 24% of the people present today are YOUNG PEOPLE a much better turn out than birmingham, well i will write another blog later.... AS the day has just begun and i'm still tired....

*Lotsa*

♥ Therryi ♥

A youth board for England?

tim — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:19:12 +0100

Tom Wylie, Chief Exec of the NYA is calling for a Youth Board to be set up chaired by a government minister. Young people now featued the call in this article last week.

After his keynote Tom said "The issues and views of young people as young adults are lost in the focus on 'children's services' 0 - 19 years"

So - we want to know what you think...

Should there be a national Youth Board set up chaired by a senior government minister? Vote here and add your comments to the discussion...

Coming of age - let's identify what's changed?

Fran — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:52:33 +0100

It has to be worth mentioning to all present at the Youth Summit that the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child has come of age and is now 18! So what can we say has changed during that time? This is an excellent example of Article 12 in practice - young people having their say and being listened to, what we need to do is make sure their requests are acted upon! Good luck to all present!

Expectations of the day

Becky Sharp — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:36:37 +0100

The first questions of the day! The reporters have been out asking young people who are involved in the conference and delegates who are arriving what their expectations of the conference are and what they are hoping to achieve.

What are your expectations of today? What are you hoping to achieve?

10am Monday

Young People:

I expect a high standard. I want to let adults know about how we do things differently to other people.
I’m looking forward to seeing other people’s presentations.
I want to use this opportunity to reach the right people to improve facilities to children and young people and to get better opportunities

Others:

I’m hoping to get an insight as to where the 10 year strategy might take us.
To get an insight into how the current political changes may affect youth work and the roots into policy agendas for young people.
To see what NYA’s done and achieved and how they’re going to build on this for the future.
Find out how talk’s going to change into actual action.
I want to see vigorous debate across a range of issues and the structures affecting children and young people.
On a wider scale to find out what’s happening for children and young people on a policy and participation level and to know what support services are out there for young volunteers.
I want to learn a lot from young people – it’s very important to listen to learn about what they need.
I want a genuine dialogue between young people and service providers on policy for young people.

10 years too long?

tim — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 15:50:02 +0100

The Youth Summit will herald the new era of service
provision for young people with emerging priorities from the Government’s
ten-year strategy for children and young people and the
Comprehensive Spending Review.

DK from MediaSnackers will be at the Youth Summit giving a keynote on digital
media at the Youth Summit - but he has also thrown in some wider throughs about
the event in this post on his
blog about the justification of a 10 year strategy for youth. DK writes:

I also believe that a 10 year strategy for young people is not credible.
The world is moving at such an extreme pace it's simply isn't viable (unless it
is one that is fluid in it's design and focus).

Which raises an interesting set of questions. I find the idea of
having a 10 year strategy quite appealing in some aspects, not least because of
the pace of change. Long term visions with a strategic edge have a lot to add to
making change happen. They can act as a focus around which changes can be
analysed, understood and responded to. They can make sure activity doesn't move
off track. For this they need some considerable structure and stability. But, as
DK rightly notes, rigidly applied as a set of 'plans for action' without taking
into account dynamic changes over their lifetime - 10 year strategies could do
more harm than good.

So - it seems to be that we need to be able to think carefully about
what should and shouldn't be fluid in a strategy - and, particularly in the case
of a youth strategy, we need to explore how space to listen to young people and
to continually refresh our understandings of contemporary events and dynamics is
built into the core of a strategy.

As a starter for 10*:
(*Alas I'm not sure the examples I give will be
reflected in any way in the Youth Strategy... although I would be extermely
happy if they were...)

The top-level goals need to be fixed: Ending child
poverty. Promoting children's rights. Addressing inequality of opportunity and
access to services. These are the sort of goals that can only cease to be goals
when achieved - and even then they continue to need monitoring...
The headline strategic actions need a 10 year lifespan:
The value in a 10-year strategy is it provides space for action that
neccessarily takes a long time. Building a sustainble transport system is going
to need significant investment and time to develop. If we look at a policy like
this over a 2-year horizon many of the changes we need will get ruled
out.
The steps to achieve the strategic 10-year vision need to become
less prescriptive over time: both because the outcomes of the previous
step, and the context into which that step will be taken, are uncertain. If we
see a description of exactly how youth provision will look in 10 years, rather
than a description of how close it will be to respecting rights (alas unlikely)
or how close it will have come to meeting outcomes (more likely) - then we're in
trouble.
The strategy needs to explicity recognise the importance of
listening to children, young people, and those who work with them: and
it needs to think carefully about the questions. If the strategy sets out a
vision - then there is little point in engaging young people in two years time
to simply ask about their visions for the future. The dialogue needs to get into
the detail. It might be that a yearly review of the way provisions are
implemented and communicated needs to take place to help policy makers and
practioners regularly revise the detailed design of activities in light of the
rapid changes that DK is concerned about.
Listening needs to lead to evolution not revolution: As
it's put into action, a strategy should be open to the possibility that as
society and key contexts change, some of its plans cease to lead to the outcomes
desired (or the fail to achieve from the start) - but, if the dialogue about the
details is working correctly, then it should, in most cases, be possible to
evolve provision, rather than have revolutions in service provision that have
the potential to create more problems than they solve.