When a group of young people at Southend YMCA got together to discuss what concerns them most they all came back to the same questions: what does the future hold for us and our community? And what could we do to make a difference? The answer was to set up a Youth in Action project funded by the British Council. 

Young people take the initiative

Available to any group of young people who want to set up a project that promotes cross-cultural learning opportunities in Europe, this money has funded a wide variety of projects, including a mini European 'Battle of the Bands' and a film about sports opportunities in Wales.

Through their Youth in Action project, the volunteers at Southend YMCA wrote a handbook of information and advice about leaving home, developed a presentation that educates and highlights equality worldwide, and created a set of recipe cards designed to tackle food waste.

"We wanted to create projects that would inspire and help other young people, but as there are only 14 of us we wanted to find out if others shared the same concerns, so we sent out a survey to 155 young people in the area," says Sammy Lane, a 23-year-old volunteer. "The results confirmed that not only were they concerned about the future, they also wanted the opportunity to be involved in making a difference."

Once they finalised their projects the group put together a proposal to ask for Youth in Action funding.

"It's opened my eyes"

"We started organising our projects straight away," says Sammy. "For the equalities project we arranged for speakers to come in from Amnesty, Save the Children and other fascinating organisations. It opened our eyes to issues of equality on a global scale."

Eight young people worked together on the equalities project, each taking an area of interest and researching facts and figures that they'd later compile into a 'pop-up' presentation to take to schools.

"Before I started working on this project I didn't know anything about what went on in other countries. I researched more about the work Amnesty does and it taught me about an existence I knew nothing about," says Sammy.

"My confidence has grown"

For one member of the group, the experience of working on this project has not only broadened her awareness of what's going on in the world, it's also rebuilt the confidence she lost through unemployment. "I was climbing the walls with boredom and wanted to do something that would boost my skills and look good on my CV," says Shauna Newth, 20. "I realised volunteering on this project could give me the work experience I desperately needed, but it ended up being much more than that."

Shauna and Sammy were involved in every aspect of the project, from researching topics to writing a quiz as part of the presentation. "We wanted to inspire other young people, not bore them with facts and figures, so we created a quiz to get them involved," says Sammy. "We covered questions like: how many countries still have the death penalty?"

Working entirely on their own, it took the group just over a month to put together. They went to five schools, electing one person to present the conference while the others helped the young people with the quiz.

"Going into schools and working in a group has given me the confidence I lost through unemployment," says Shauna. "It's taught me that you can achieve anything you want in life, and through volunteering I believe I now have enough work experience to gain employment."

Working together

For the handbook, everyone bought something valuable based on their own experience. "We all came at it from different angles and discussed the issues we wanted to cover. I wrote about being homeless as I'd been homeless and lived in the YMCA," says Sammy.

The group organised speakers to cover all angles: from mortgage advisors to experts on the benefits of renting or buying to someone from a woman's refuge. "Again, we worked very much as a group and agreed to write a page per topic," says Sammy.

"I've learned so much"

Once everyone finished their section it was compiled into a booklet and edited by volunteer Sheila Lord, who had just finished her second year of university. "As I do creative writing at uni I thought it would be helpful to get some real experience at copy editing," she says. "It's very valuable to my CV that I can write and have been a published copy editor."

Editing the booklet about leaving home for the first time has given Sheila the CV boost getting involved in this type of volunteering often offers. It's also been a boost in many other ways. "I've not only learned so much from different speakers," she says "but also discovered that volunteering is a great way to learn about things that wouldn't necessarily come to mind straight away."

For Sammy, being part of a project from start to finish has given her newfound leadership skills. "We had help organising the printing, but the content, cover, look and design was down to us," she says. "We all bought something to project based on our past experience, which made it real - and something to be proud of."

Want to set up your own Youth in Action project?

To apply for funding visit www.britishcouncil.org/youthinaction and look at the section on Youth Initiatives, or speak to your local youth organisation to see if they are already running a Youth in Action project.

By Nic Scott

Updated: 24/01/2012