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The Importance of Youth Voice: My experience in a Parliamentary Roundtable
We are always excited to discover inspiring stories involving young individuals!
This blog post is from Elijah, who recently took part in the “Are You Listening?” Parliamentary Roundtable Discussion and is also on our internship programme.
Read about his reflections on the importance of youth voice.
My name is Elijah, and I am on the Jack Petchey Foundation Internship Programme. I work at Renaissance Foundation as their Programme and Outreach Coordinator. Renaissance Foundation is a London-based youth charity dedicated to supporting young people with caring responsibilities or those who have a chronic health condition.
The Roundtable Event
Recently, I was invited to be part of a Parliamentary Roundtable discussion with MPs and Youth Sector leaders to discuss the importance of youth voice courtesy of the Jack Petchey Foundation. I’ve always been passionate about youth voice. Not just about listening to young people’s opinions, but about empowering their voices and bringing them into key discussions.
We had a briefing meeting at Jack Petchey’s office in Canary Wharf ahead of the roundtable. During this meeting, we discussed our opinions on the themes of “Speaking with Confidence”, “The Chance to be heard”, and “Helping Leaders Listen”. From these discussions, we distilled our opinions and thoughts into some key questions that we could ask the MPs/Leaders. After the meeting, these questions were further distilled into nine succinct questions that we (different young people) would ask on the day of the roundtable.
The roundtable itself took place in a committee room in parliament. It was chaired by members of the Jack Petchey Youth Consultation Panel and hosted by the MP for Ilford South, Jas Athwal. The room was made up of young people and staff from JPF, MPs and politicians, and youth sector leaders. The nine questions were split equally into the three themes. The young people would ask a question which either the MPs or youth leaders would answer. I was one of two notetakers, who would summarise the key action points that were proposed/needed to be taken going forward. The way the MPs engaged with the questions was great and it was a pleasure to be part of this event.
Takeaways from the Roundtable on Youth Voice
What the roundtable highlighted, was the power and importance of youth voice. When you consider that the voting age will go down to 16, yet young people rated their confidence speaking about Politics as 2.9 out of 5 in the “Are You Listening?” Youth Survey Report produced by the Jack Petchey Foundation, it’s clear that there are barriers/factors leading to young people not being as confident in expressing their opinions/voice when it comes to politics in comparison to other areas. By comparison, they rated their confidence when it comes to discussing education as 3.9. Politics and Economics were the areas they felt least confident in.
However, 75 percent of young people think their voice should matter, 53 percent say they are the ones who will be most affected by what happens now, and 43 percent say that they have a different perspective which can be valuable in improving society. The importance of youth voice then, is very apparent. As a young person myself, I’m keen to amplify the voices of other young people. I believe young people have ideas that can improve society now, as well as in the future.
The Renaissance Foundation and Youth Voice
This experience of being involved in a parliamentary roundtable prompted me to reflect on how the Renaissance Foundation empowers youth voice and makes the opinions of young people matter. Since I started at the Renaissance Foundation, I have been co-ordinating Youth Board meetings with our Youth Engagement Manager. Our Youth Board is made up of Renaissance Foundation Graduates who have completed the three-year programme but choose to stay involved. They express opinions on Renaissance Foundation matters, help spread the word about the work we do, help us decide on key topics to do sessions on, and they even plan events such as fundraisers! This is a key tenet of the Renaissance Foundations youth voice but it’s far from the only one.
In the summer, the young people can take part in an Audible podcast project where they express opinions on matters that they are interested in and passionate about. We also use their feedback to shape sessions and future opportunities. If young people express that they want more history and photography sessions, then we use that feedback to ensure that this is part of the planning for the programme year. The young people take part in interviews and case studies, sharing their opinions and perspectives on projects, on the programme, and on the Renaissance Foundation as a whole. Young people have also created art which is now part of the furniture at the Youth Hub. Additionally, young people are encouraged to explore their ideas. Young people have pitched business ideas to us, and young people have based their creative projects on members of Staff.
True youth voice is not about tokenism but about truly valuing the opinions and perspectives of young people and using them to shape impactful work/changes. Then, it’s about really including them in what that process looks like as they start to take more responsibility.