The Capacity Building & Youth Leadership Programme is open to all young people aged 12 to 24 who live in the Ards and North Down Borough Council area, and will engage with 144 young people throughout the life span of the programme. The young people engaging will be the primary beneficiaries of the programme and following their participation in an intense yet enjoyable training and capacity building programme they will be inspired and motivated to ‘step up to the mark’ as future leaders and youth champions affecting positive change within and across the Ards and North Down Borough and further afield.
The Aim of this programme over the next 3 years is to establish 8 separate youth forums with at least 12 members in each forum, from local communities in the Ards and North Down Borough Council area. Each youth forum will be youth led and will be underpinned by Personal & Social Development, Capacity building, Citizenship and Good Relations through bespoke training ‘Making Your Youth Council Work for You ’
The development of the forums will lead to 32 ‘Peace Champions’ being elected by the young people to represent each forum at a youth council level to engage with Ards and North Down Borough Council on issues that are important to young people and their community.
All of the 32 Peace Champions will also be given the opportunity to complete an OCNNI level 2 accredited Peer Mentoring Training, which will provide the skills and knowledge to allow them to successfully sustain the youth forums for the foreseeable future and provide a platform for other young people to come through their forum to become the Peace Champions of the future.
All 8 youth forums, and 32 Peace champions will also be responsible to plan, implement and facilitate ‘Youth Fest’ this will be an event which will see all 144 young people from the forums, gather to celebrate, debate and take action of issues impacting on their lives and communities.
For more information or to get involved, please contact:
Ian Donald
