Young Wales Annual Conference #YWCI2017

On 21.02.17 the Youth Mayor and members of the Vale Youth Forum went to the annual Young Wales conference at the Future Inn Hotel in Cardiff.  Around 120 young people from across Wales trekked to attend the conference but luckily for us we only had a half hour drive.

To kick off the day there was a presentation on all the work Young Wales had done throughout the year,this included the work on UK Youth Parliament and much more.  The event was hosted and organised by young people with help from support workers, young people even ran some of the exciting workshops we attended throughout the day.

There were four workshops on; the curriculum review; Well-being of Future Generations Act; anti-bullying; and resilience and well-being.  All the workshops were every interesting and sparked debates on a wide range of issues and it was good to listen to other young people's views on these issues.  After a delicious lunch we had a talk from the Children's Commissioner for Wales, Sally Holland, who updated us on her work and we created a hug paper chain full of pledges to promote the UNCRC locally which was great fun.  Also she mentioned the Vale Rights Ambassadors during her talk, as an example of a way young people and youth services are promoting the UNCRC!!

The event ended with a Q&A session with four decision-makers in Wales which included two Assembly Members, the Chief Executive of Children in Wales and Sally Holland.  There were lots of questions posted to the panel from young people in the audience on a range of topics.  Overall it was a great day for everyone who attended!

UK Youth Parliament debate

It's not every day you get to sit and debate in the House of Commons! Not wanting to sound too clichéd but it is quite literately a dream come true for me. Today I attended the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) annual sitting and represented young people from the Vale of Glamorgan.  There were nearly 300 Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs) present, all representing young people from across the UK.  I travelled up with other MYPs from Wales so thanks to Children in Wales for organising this!  

The whole debate was chaired by John Bercow, who is a champion of young people's voices in democracy and gives great support to the UKYP. We debated the 5 top issues of the Make Your Mark ballot, issues that affect young people right across the UK including; Votes at 16, Cuts to the NHS, A curriculum to prepare us for life, Tackling racism and discrimination and Improving transport. All the MYP's debated in a very fair and thoughtful way, debating complex issues in an astute manner that impressed all of the prestigious visitors that included some MP's.

As voted for at the end of today's debate, the national UKYP priority for 2017 will be lowering the voting age to 16 and 17.  The devolved priority will be a Curriculum to prepare us for life. I can't wait now to get back to the Vale (hopefully soon but London traffic is awful) and raise awareness of the outcomes from the debate with everyone at the next Vale Youth Forum meeting.

#CIYW 2016

Cymru Ifanc - Young Wales is a platform to ensure Welsh Government ministers listen to the views and ideas of young people. 

We attended their annual conference in Cardiff on 05.03.16 which was really interesting.  The conference was chaired by the Deputy Youth Mayor from Merthyr Tydfil and was an opportunity for young people, professionals and Welsh Government to find out what Cymru Ifanc, Young Wales have achieved in the last year.  There were guest speakers including the Children's Commissioner for Wales and we learnt more about the plans for a new curriculum in Wales.  We also took part in workshops around the use of social media and participation and young people's views on mental health services.