WHY
The purpose of the events was to engage young people in consultations with voluntary and statutory agencies in ways that were creative and fun, and sought the views of those rarely included in consultation exercises.

Engaging young people in the whole process was the key to getting young people to open up and talk about their reality and ambitions for their villages in ways that questionnaires, focus groups and meetings would not.

Behind the fun of the BzR events was an opportunity to show young people and potential volunteers and service providers a range of activities that could be organised within the limits of the amenities and resources of the villages involved. They were also about bringing in volunteers from the community to broaden the options for young people.

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HOW
As with all successful projects the groundwork preparation was vital to achieving the outcomes.

A pilot was staged in the Hope Valley area and this model was followed and improved for other localities. A link to the Evaluation Report of the Hope Valley pilot is available at the end of this page.

Workers first set out to find out who was who in the communities… the schools, parish councils shops, pubs etc to uncover attitudes youth in the area, identify possible partnerships and volunteers, and find out where young people hang out.

Next came some contact with young people themselves. “It’s not difficult.. just find them and talk to them.” Says Derek Taylor.
“We found out what would pull them in to an activity day, here the biggest drawers were usually the mobile skate park, or Go-carting, because rural kids don’t often get the chance to do these things.”
“The controversial Graffiti wall was also a puller.
Once we found out what would attract them we set about making it happen… but of course, weaving in the consultation devises!”
A popular, if controversial activity !

BIG BROTHER
Of all the consultation techniques the most exciting and rewarding was The Big Brother Diary Room.

As it sounds, the Big Brother Diary Room was a small room or space offering young people in groups, or individually to speak in private and voice their views on camcorder. The workers would be the first to admit to the idea being a blatant attempt to engage young people through the medium of popular culture.
Young people were invited, enticed and encouraged to record their views on video.

The idea was simple, and equipment minimal. Just a comfy space, and camcorder along with some well thought out questions and lots of enthusiasm.
Big Brother himself, or herself, was hidden in a separate location with a monitor, asking questions and seeking opinions in a way that was familiar and fun.
Having said that, the workers did find through experience that the more like the T.V. set they could make the Diary Room, the better the kid’s reaction, and the more freely they shared information. As the project progressed the set gained inflatable purple chairs, low lighting and so on.
The young people who gave their views to Big Brother really enjoyed the experience and their input has been invaluable to the agencies seeking information about services, job opportunities, services and activities for young people.

For Big Brother to work effectively it was important that it did not stand alone. The most successful outcomes were achieved when one of the youth workers was on hand to encourage, exhort and badger participants into having a go! Incentives sometimes involved priority tickets to the most popular activities.
“Once ten or a dozen young people had tried it , it sold by word of mouth. It was amazing.”, said Rachel, “We came back from grabbing a quick coffee and suddenly there was a queue round the block!”

OTHER CONSULTATION TOOLS

Traditional questionnaires were available, and young people encouraged to complete them.

In addition, Post-it stickers were left out and a wall space made for comments to be stuck on.

A touch screen questionnaire called Infonnaire was brought in.

In some events young people were asked to interview each other.
At Elton, where there were not enough young people to make a full BzR viable, a Film Project was used as a consultation vehicle. Young people were engaged in their own fact finding film project and the resulting film was used to encourage agencies and volunteers to support a now thriving youth club for the village.

WHO WANTS TO KNOW?
For anyone looking for funding partnerships it may be useful to think about who wants to know what?
The people who wanted to know what young people in isolated rural Derbyshire think were the active partners:

• Derbyshire Rural Community Council
• Derbyshire County Council
• District Councils
• Parish Councils
• Connexions

ALSO INTERESTED WERE:

• The Countryside Agency
• CVS
• Volunteering England
• Drugs organisations
• Local colleges
• Sports Development agencies
• Millennium Volunteers
• Rural Youth Forums
• Rural Transport
• Health Promotion
• Young Farmers

WILL IT WORK FOR US?
As models for consultation with young people it may be that for once, rural perspectives could be modified for the urban setting!

Agencies with the will to consult with young people can adapt the ideas of detached youth work to enable young people to organise events, and involve communities in fun activities to suit any field of consultation.
The methodology and techniques we used gained us far more relevant information for evaluation than traditional focus group type activity, and reached those young people whose views are important but seldom heard.

It seems obvious to state, but the most successful outcome is that resources can be targeted more appropriately and directly.

We feel we learnt a lot from our experiences and are happy to share that learning.
Help Your Community Grow THINK YOUTH, is a Derbyshire Rural Community Council publication for voluntary youth workers. Click here to link to the information pack.

If you think you still need more information than is available on this site, or have any comments for us please contact Joe Dugdale joed@derbysrcc.org.uk.

OTHER LINKS
Hope Valley Report
Information Pack

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