Youth Participation

Participation at CfEY

Adult practitioners design the systems, services and institutions that shape young people’s journeys into adulthood. Often, the adults making decisions do not themselves have lived experience of the additional barriers to thriving that young people who are disabled, care experienced, queer, working class, or from ethnic minority/global majority groups face.

Our work is based on the idea that young people are experts in the systems, services and issues they have navigated and experienced. We create spaces and opportunities for young people to participate in policy and research to shape these, so that the services young people access better meet all young people’s needs, and reduce the disadvantage faced by marginalised groups.

We do this through our Young Collective, and by working with peer researchers to co-design and conduct research.

“I really enjoy being part of the Young Collective as it gives me the opportunity to try new things and develop my skills such as confidence and communication” – YC Researcher

The Young Collective

CfEY’s Young Collective are a group of people aged 16-25 who we train and pay to take part in our projects, working alongside us as peer researchers, advisors and consultants.

Members of the Young Collective have experienced a wide range of systems, services and issues affecting young people in the UK, and have signed up as members to harness this lived experience and help us strengthen CfEY’s research and policy work. We pay members a real living wage for all work they take part in, whether that’s joining us to conduct fieldwork or co-design research tools, sitting on project advisory groups, or responding to government policy consultations. Currently, the Young Collective has 50 members, based all over the UK and representing a wide range of identities, experiences and perspectives.

We work with the Young Collective as colleagues rather than as research participants. Outside of our research and policy work, we are also open to offering members of the Young Collective work in collaboration with other organisations when it is beneficial to the young people, meaning that they gain tangible skills or development, or contribute to actual change.

We don’t offer opportunities for Young Collective members to take part in other organisations’ work as members of advisory panels or participants in their research, but we would love to work alongside you to provide training and resources (co-designed and co-delivered with Young Collective members) to support you to recruit and work alongside your own groups of young people.

We will open up applications to join the Young Collective again in Autumn 2024, so keep an eye out for opportunities to join the group!

“The Young Collective is an invaluable experience, it exposes you to professionals and processes usually hidden away from or not known to young people whilst ensuring your first exposures are exciting and interesting” – YC Researcher

Peer research projects

Our peer research training packages provide existing groups of young people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to collect, analyse and understand their own data.

CfEY researchers with extensive experience working alongside young people work with you to identify the training and co-design package that best meets the needs and interests of your young people. We will then design and facilitate tailored, accessible training sessions covering:

  • Research question design
  • Research tool co-design
  • Safely doing research with other young people
  • Analysing and understanding your data
  • Stress-testing findings

“The Young Collective has uplifted my confidence in researching social issues effectively ever since attending the training sessions. I’ve urged my friends to join our amazing team of hardworking members” – YC Researcher

Previous peer research projects include:

  • Supporting Brighton and Hove Citizens Young People’s Action Group to co-design focus group plans, interview questions and a safe research process to follow
  • Training Buckinghamshire Council’s Care Ambassadors to conduct research with other care experienced young people, and supporting the group to co-design a series of interview plans to answer their research questions
  • Supporting the Blagrave Trust’s Young Advisors to design and conduct qualitative research into the needs of young people living on the South Coast of England, using co-designed interview questions and analysing the data gathered together

“I really enjoy being part of Young Collective as it means I find out about and have the chance to take part in opportunities that I am interested in, when and if I have the time without an ongoing time commitment… Any training that I need is organised for me and everything is easily explained” – YC Researcher

If you have any questions about our participatory work, the role of the Young Collective, or how you might work alongside us please get in touch with Abi by email, phone or WhatsApp ([email protected], 07470346781).