funky dragon

At the end of July Wales hosted the Youth in Action Conference in Atlantic College in the Vale of Glamorgan. The purpose of the conference was to share practices for participation in government, for young people in a range of European countries. This is in accordance with article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The countries that attended were Poland, Spain, France, Wales, Italy, Malta and Sweden. WAG and European Youth in Action provided the funding and Funky Dragon with WAG officials planned and facilitated the conference.

The six days of the conference included presentations from a number of visiting speakers, workshops and visits to a local Youth Forum and Assembly officials in City hall as well as cultural visits.

Participation for young people in Wales is well developed with a Participation unit established in WAG, two monthly meetings of a Participation Consortium and a mainly web based participation network. Also Wales was the first UK country to appoint a Children’s Commissioner. This enables children and young people in Wales to contribute their views on proposed legislation and contribute to decision-making. This can be done via a number of channels including Youth Forums and Funky Dragon as well as schools councils. To find out more, links can be found on WAG’s Funky Dragon’s and European Youth in Action web sites:
http://wales.gov.uk/?lang=en
www.funkydragon.org/
www.regione.emilia-romagna.it/wcm/youthnet/index.htm

One outcome for Wales from all these initiatives has been seven standards for Participation that are in the process of being adopted by all organisations in Wales that work with and support Young People.

It became very evident from the shared information and discussions that participation for young people varies widely in other European countries. Just getting information to young people about what their rights are and what support is available for them is variable e.g.
Poland they have web pages for youth but no regional websites, a youth press and annual Europe and Youth meetings
Spain (Valencia) Towns have a youth centre for information, leaflets and phone and websites for info and a National website for youth
Wales A national information service cliconline as well as a number of county web sites for young people

Welsh young people who attended the conference found that there is not such good support in some countries as we have in Wales while there are other countries that have better facilities, Kelly from Anglesey discovered e.g. in Malta they have respite centres for young disabled people while in Sweden and Spain there was no respite for these disabled young people.

Holly from Llandudno in a more general way noted that Poland had an interesting Arts festival for young people in 2007. However all the other countries were impressed with Funky Dragon and no other country has anything similar.

Marek from Poland thought that youth can have an important voice in the decision making process and it will be possible to achieve a state where youth has a voice. Poland is taking first steps in a Youth Regional Policy and had been getting inspiration and ideas from the conference that they hope to share. He felt that there is a lack of regulations and co-operation of young people in Poland but noted that democracy is young there.

Also from Poland Anna and Tomasz said that Wales is the most developed and advanced in developing and implementing policy for young people. They hoped that Wales could be an advisor for them. Setting up student exchange projects is one of their aims and if anyone in Wales would like to be involved assist in this project please contact Tomasz on tbzdz@wp.pl

Following a presentation on the Funky Dragon’s research project “Our Rights Our Story’ The Swedish delegates voiced the following opinions and observations:
Like Wales they thought that policies were not always implemented and in Sweden currently there is no structure for politicians and children to meet but it is going to start soon. It is not a high priority with adults for children’s views to be heard and acted on. However unlike Wales Sweden does sometimes get good news culture stories about young people in the media.

This is just a snapshot of some of the comments and views from the conference but there was a real feeling of co-operation, a willingness to share ideas and exchange views in the workshops and other activities. Organising. Planning and facilitating such a conference takes time and hard work but the positive outcomes networks and new friendships that will be the main outcomes from the week will be worth all the effort.