Tackling Child Exploitation Programme — Young People’s voices in strategic decision making. #Week 1: 6th November 2020

Well, our Twitter conversation is underway! A huge thanks to everyone who has contributed.

Our first question for the sector was: what does children and young people’s voice mean to you, as a strategic leader?’

The thinking behind this question was that we need to know how people understand ‘children and young people’s voice’ before we can go on to consider if, and how this already takes place, or could take place better.

We know from discussion with the sector and from research literature that many different terms are used in relation to children and young people’s ‘voice’ — participation, consultation, co-creation and so on — and these can also be used in different ways. People also have different experiences of trying to do this. And it can be difficult to question what is meant by ‘voice’ in a professional context.

We were a little unsure the level of response we would get to this first question, but are really pleased that people ‘liked’ the idea and the question, and that discussion is underway. People reminded us that:

• There are young people who are working as strategic advocates, and who are ‘raising their voices’. It is important to look at different services and sectors, and some responses flagged that there are some really good examples of how young people contribute to strategy in the health sector and elsewhere.
• It should not just be thought of as ‘nice’ or an afterthought, but core to what we do.
• Things that help facilitate children and young people’s voice include having national champions who keep issues on the agenda, and having dedicated staff who support them.
• Involvement needs to be genuine, meaningful and sustained.
• Things will go wrong, but that’s OK and it’s important to keep moving forwards.
• And a challenge — even if we are trying to ensure children and young people are part of developing strategy, how do we hear, understand and respond to what they are saying? How do we cede power and follow through what young people are saying to decision making? And most importantly, how do we feedback to young people about what action has been taken as a result of their input?

These are all really important points, and an essential foundation to the way we proceed in our thinking about the children and young people’s strand of work in our Tackling Child Exploitation (TCE) programme.

This is a new way of working for both of us, and is also new to TCE as a programme — and we know there is still a lot to learn. Next week we’re planning to extend our Twitter reach and perhaps be more pro-active within the conversation. We also need to follow up on some of the examples we’ve been given.

Thank you again, and we look forward to talking more!

Ellie and Isabelle