Updated 6th September 2003

Berkhamsted Youth councillor Mischke attends Liverpool Conference

Mischke (extreme right in the picture below) was sponsored to attend a two-day convention
at Liverpool John Moore's University August 12th and 13th.

The Convention was called 'Going Local in Liverpool'. It was part of BYC's current initiatives
to help local youth councils:

•   promote themselves to the media;

•   promote their availability to all organisations that should be taking the young person's views into their future planning;

•   promote young people's ideas and viewpoints;

•   promote themselves to organisations that would provide funding or other support for their initiatives.

Day One
Arriving during the morning, the convention started after lunch with group work involving:

•   Introduction to the British Youth Council and the Convention

•   'Hearing it Loud', how youth councils can get their voices heard nationally

•   Workshop Session 1

•   Launch of the LYC Handbook on how youth councils can handle the media

Dinner was at 7:00pm followed by a social evening.

Day Two

•   Workshop  Session 2

•   Workshop Session 3

Luncheon and after-noon departure.

During the two days there were also domestic matters relating to elections to the LYC committee
and various 'local business'.

There were four options for each of the three workshop sessions.

Session 1

•   Using the media

•   Votes at 16 (currently 18)

•   Working with your community

•   Top tips for fundraising

Session 2

•   Setting and keeping targets

•   ADD—Art Discussion, Debate

•   Successful youth participation

•   Teamwork

Session 3

•   Working with your community

•   Lobbying and negotiation

•   Working with and involving young asylum seekers and refugees

•   Knowing your rights

The workshops in red type are the workshops Mischke attended. Here is her evaluation of the Convention.

•   She enjoyed most—meeting people, workshops and social

•   She enjoyed least:—leaving, food, saying goodbye!!!

On a scale of 1–7 where 1 is excellent and 7 very poor her responses were as follows.

•   the venue—3, good

•   the social—3, good

•   accommodation—3, good

•   the organisation of the event—3, good

•   Workshop session 1 (Using the media)

  •   trainer—2, very good

  •   venue—2, very good

  •   value of training materials—3, good

  •   did it meet your expectations according to the guide?—4, average

•   Workshop session 2 (Art discussion, debate) 

  •   trainer—1, excellent

  •   venue—1, excellent

  •   value of training materials—1, excellent

  •   did it meet your expectations according to the guide?—1, excellent

•   Workshop session 3 (Knowing your rights)

  •   trainer—1, excellent

  •   venue—1, excellent

  •   value of training materials—1, excellent

  •   did it meet your expectations according to the guide?—1, excellent

•   On the people at the convention, committee members, volunteers and staff she found them enthusiastic, open and helpful.

•   Overall, she rated her experience at Liverpool as Good.

The Convention team (Mischke 6th from left front row)

The BYC's ‘Every Young Voice’ initiative is designed:

•     to encourage youth councils to be representing a broad diversity of young people from different backgrounds.
   

•     explore with corporate partners the establishment of a competition to celebrate local youth council  media;
   

•     a reaffirmation of BYC’s commitment to involving more people all year round with new schemes such
            as the media and training volunteers teams;  
     

•     Offering consultancy services to organisations that want to involve young people in policy making and
             the design and delivery of services.