Participation - also known as youth engagement, empowerment or voice - is an active and fast-developing area of work in London, both regionally and locally.
If you work with young people and want to get more involved in participation work, you can join the Young Londoners Participation Network (YLPN). YLPN is a pan-London initiative led by London Youth and the Greater London Authority. It provides a quarterly forum for participation workers across the capital to share practice and ideas, discuss developments in the field, and offer each other informal professional support and advice.
Themes and dates for YLPN meetings in 2011:
23rd May 2011 – Employment and Apprenticeships making it accessible for all young Londoners
12th September 2011 – Engaging Young People in Sexual Health Awareness
21st November 2011 – Youth Opportunities in Volunteering
2012
20th February 2012 - 2012 Olympiad
21st May 2012 - Health & Wellbeing
17th September 2012 - Citizenship a year after the riots
19th November 2012 - A place to live: housing and homelesness
Please contact ylpn@londonyouth.org.uk
On 5 February 2009, six young Londoners met the Mayor at City Hall to present the Young Citizens' Action Agenda for London. This report follows on from the Young Citizens' Action Event in Westminster on 10 July 2008, which was attended by over 1,400 young people. Young Londoners make up almost a quarter of London's population, and the agenda covers everything from things to do in London to volunteering, transport and the Olympics, relating to decision makers and more.
The following sites are useful sources of information about youth participation:
Greater London Authority - practitioners' pages on the GLA website
Participation Works - Participation Works is an interactive one-stop shop on participation, enabling users to share expertise and access resources
Young Scot - information on young people's participation in Scotland