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!

My year with the Children's Commissioner for Wales

Sally Holland is the Children's Commissioner for Wales and she works young people around Wales and Welsh Government to promote children's rights. I've been heavily involved and have worked closely with the Children Commissioner for Wales office and over the past year and three months.  I have been involved in the recruitment of  Sally Holland and have helped her into her role along with other young people from across Wales. 

So how did it start? 

After the previous Children's Commissioner for Wales, Keith Towler, finished his term, I joined a young persons recruitment panel to find the next Children's Commissioner for Wales.  There were 63 applicants who all wanted the post. That was watered down to 7, and with an adult panel, I and other young people narrowed that down to 5 for interviewing. 

The young persons panel had the opportunity to interview these candidates, and we had our say on who was the best for the role.   After a nail-biting final decision we decided that Sally Holland was the most appropriate. 

We've met up with her since then to give her our viewpoints on how she should work with young people, and she's very proactive when it comes to working with other children and young people around Wales. She will be the Children's Commissioner for Wales for the next 7 years. This process was beneficial for the the young people involved, and it was an incredibly successful piece of work as it was the first time young people were involved in the recruitment process. We also have our first female Children's Commissioner for Wales too.  

Sally has recently launched the areas of work she will be focusing on following her Beth Nesa? What's next? consultation.  Take a look at the video for more information.