Youth Scotland Chief Executive, Mike Strang, took the opportunity to announce two exciting and collaborative initiatives for community-based youth work during Big Ideas Weekend.
Sharing the Sunday Keynote session with the Minister for Higher and Further Education; and Minister for Veterans, Mr Graeme Dey, Mike told the 200+ delegates about a network to support young youth workers and a forum to build on the connections between our Training Pathway and member groups.
Speaking at Big Ideas Weekend, Mike said:
“Big Ideas is a place for everyone to have new opportunities and with that in mind, I’m delighted to tell you about the launch of two new initiatives for Youth Scotland; the Next Gen Network and the Youth Scotland Training Forum.”
We will be giving further information soon – including how you can get involved and when they will get up and running – but for now, here are some exciting details about what to expect:
Youth Scotland has launched the Next Gen Network, dedicated to supporting the next generation of youth work leaders across Scotland thrive.
Built from our expertise and experience in developing youth leadership programmes, such as the iLead Pathway and Young Grantmakers programme, the Next Gen Network brings together youth workers aged 16 to 25 from Youth Scotland membership, offering a space to exchange ideas, share experiences and grow their confidence as emerging practitioners.
The network will:
We will be looking for one or two young people per group to ensure we have as broad a range of groups, areas and views as possible.
In addition to the Next Gen Network, Mike announced the Youth Scotland Training Forum, which seeks to create a dialogue with purpose around the training needs of community-based youth work. Building on the successful format of our Youth Work Leadership Forum, we are excited to listen and collaborate on how best to support our members’ training needs.
Introducing the Training Forum, a collaborative space where Youth Scotland member groups come together to shape the future of training and workforce development in community-based youth work.
We know from our extensive in-person, online and e-learning training offer that the training needs of workers and the communities they support changes. This forum is a space for honest conversation and collective action, aimed at ensuring our training pathway meets real, emerging needs across the sector in a timely and pragmatic way.
The forum will:
We will be looking for one or two workers per group to ensure we have as broad a range of groups, areas and views as possible.