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April 2008: Spotlight Member

Did you know that members of the Participation Works Network for England work in a variety of different settings including participation, health, education, children’s rights, early years and childcare?

Children and young people’s participation is an integral part of all our network member’s work. Job titles of current members include participation workers, youth involvement officers, CAMHS Patient and Public Involvement Facilitators, youth workers, voice and influence officers, participation officers, children’s involvement officers and children’s rights officers.
 
To find out more about your fellow PWNE members and how to contact them search our database. (You need to join the network to be able to do this)

As part of the PWNE e-mail bulletin sent to all PWNE members we are introducing a new ‘spotlight member’ feature where we interview a network member  once a fortnight. This is your chance to find out about and  share your experiences of working in participation. Read current interview below. If you would like to take part contact Claire Grant at claire@participationworks.org.uk

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Adriana Byrne, Young NCB

Describe your role
I coordinate Young NCB, which is the National Children's Bureau's membership network of children and young people. My job is to ensure that the young members have opportunities to get their voices heard by their peers, professions and policy-makers on issues that affect them.  I also work closely with the Young NCB Advisory Group in developing, planning and implementing Young NCB activities and involvement with NCB and other initiatives.

 

What makes a good participation worker?
Someone who always takes the time to celebrate and acknowledge children and young people's involvement. This is absolutely crucial in showing them how much their efforts are valued and to enhance their self-esteem. There's not really any excuse for not doing it, it doesn't always have to be an event, it could be as simple as writing a thank you card or a reference.

 

What are the barriers to involving children and young people?
The complexity of the way organisations and structures are set up can be a barrier if concepts are not communicated effectively to young people in a language that they understand. Adults need to be able to adapt their ways of working to enable children and young people to be involved which takes a lot of commitment.

 

What are the benefits?
There are many but the ones I see as being the most important are: Raising young people's self-esteem, improved services and activities for young people, giving young people control over their own lives and improving the perceptions that society has of them.

 

What tips do you have for effective participation of children and young people?
Be creative about how you involve children and young people, as a ‘one size fits all’ approach doesn’t work. Young people have individual needs and ways of communicating so it’s essential to have different ways of enabling them to get their voice heard. I’ve said it before but celebrating their involvement is so important and will encourage them to keep participating in the future.

 

What is effective participation?
Ensuring that young people's voices are heard and that it actually leads to changes being made. Equally importantly is that young people's self worth is enhanced through participation. It can also only be effective if adults can adapt their ways of working to create an environment in which young people feel comfortable and have the right support to be involved in decision-making processes.