BIG makes participation work for young people in England

Area:

England

Programme:

Young People's Fund Grants to Organisations
Young People's Fund Grants to National Organisations

Release date:

7 3 2007

Following the procurement process, the Fund has appointed Participation Works to provide support to organisations that want to put young people in charge.

Participation Works is a consortium of youth charities led by National Children’s Bureau (NCB) that includes British Youth Council, Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), The National Youth Agency (The NYA), National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) and Save the Children – England.

Based on the feedback from projects that applied to the BIG’s original Young People’s Fund programme, the three-year £4,164,789 contract will bring a package of guidance and support to help organisations to involve young people more fully in their work and promote a culture of participation among all the services that affect young people.

The consortium will offer a range of 16 programmes and activities providing support to any voluntary or community organisation or social enterprise that works with young people aged 10 – 25 years old.

Participation Works will help organisations to understand the challenges they face and meet the level of involvement that is required to make a successful bid to Young People’s Fund 2 which is due to launch in April 2007.

In particular it will provide resources and literature on the subject of young people’s participation; offer opportunities to share good practices; and provide capacity building activities, helping to create a change of culture in organisational approach to involving young people.  

Sir Clive Booth, chair of the Big Lottery Fund said: “Many projects that applied to the original Young People’s Fund found the task of involving young people in the projects from start to finish a real challenge.  However, the feedback we have received suggests that the requirement for young people to be fully involved is changing for the better the way the youth sector works as a whole. Participation Works is perfectly placed to provide guidance on this complex issue.”

Barbara Hearn, Chair of the Participation Works consortium commented: "Participation Works and all its constituent partners very much welcome the vision and foresight of BIG in investing in the capacity building of the Third Sector in this critical area of 'involving children and young people' in the design, delivery and review of services they use.'

Millie Banerjee, Chair of the Carnegie UK Trust, who were key in the initiation of Participation Works commented: “Participation Works shows how organisations in the third sector can make more difference when they work together, rather than on an individual basis. We are proud to have been one of the founding partners of Participation Works, and to have encouraged and supported this approach. Funding from the Big Lottery Fund will allow Participation Works to transform the way many organisations involve children and young people, and embed changes that will hopefully benefit children and young people across England.”

Further Information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• The Big Lottery Funds rolls out close to £2 million in lottery good cause money every 24 hours which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004.
• On 1 December 2006 the Big Lottery Fund was officially established by Parliament and at the same time assumed the residual responsibilities of the dissolved National Lottery Charities Board (Community Fund) the New Opportunities Fund, and the Millennium Commission. The Fund is building on the experience and best practice of the merged bodies to simplify funding in those areas where they overlap and to ensure Lottery funding provides the best possible value for money.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to Good Causes. As a result, over £19.5 billion has now been raised and more than 250,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
• YPF 2 will open for applications in April 2007 and will continue to support innovative projects led by and for young people in England. £76 million will help support local, regional and national projects that improve local communities and offer more opportunities to young people.

Carnegie UK Trust

• Carnegie UK Trust was one of the initiating partners and coordinator until September 06.The idea for a ‘good practice centre’ on youth participation was one of the key recommendations of Carnegie UK Trust 2003 report for the Department for Education and Skills, titled ‘Expanding Involvement: A Snapshot of Participation Infrastructure for Young People living in England’. DfES have supported Participation Works from 2004 to present.

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