Giving young people a voice through youth-led research and community action
The What We Say project aims to empower groups of young people in the Rhondda on issues that matter most to them. How each project is run is up to each group and the young people decide how and what to focus on, how to approach the issue and how best to tackle it head on.
How does it work? Each group and each project is different and young people can be supported to coordinate their own research, consultation, evaluation, campaign or awareness-raising activities. Once completed, each group will be supported to action their work and try and achieve change for young people living in the Rhondda.
Examples of Projects
A group from Glyncoch wanted to know what young people in their community thought about school and their plans for the future. They conducted their research with Year 9 pupils at their local school and shared their findings with Welsh Government Officials and organised four ‘coping with stress’ workshops at their school.
A group in the Rhondda researched what young people in their local youth club thought about school. They found that those who get in trouble at school actually like attending and produced a list of things teachers should think about when dealing with young people who break the rules at school.
A group from a Rhondda youth club discussed their ideas about what it’s like living in a Rhondda community. As well as improvements they thought could be made, they recognised positive aspects of living in their community and identified the local youth club as an important source of support, both on a personal and learning level.