Why did I get Involved in the Centre for Youth Voice

Why did I get involved in the Centre for Youth Voice

I got involved in the Centre for Youth Voice as I was passionate and interested in the work that they were doing and as someone from Northern Ireland, I wanted to be able to input my ideas from a unique perspective. I wanted to share my ideas on what was working well within the centre for youth voice and what wasn't working well and being able to  create change for the better for the future of the youth sector.  I also wanted to get involved to collaborate and take more of a leadership role at a national level. 

Why does youth voice matter to me

Youth voice matters to me as I believe that it is really important that young people are at the forefront of the decisions that are being made about them, especially for charities and organisations that have a youth focus. I believe that as young people we often get overlooked in society. As someone who is a young carer and who has a health condition, I often feel that sometimes our voices aren't taken into consideration or are left out and I am passionate about advocating for those whose voices are underrepresented as well as representing those who don't feel that they can speak out due to barriers that they might face. Young people aren't just the voices of the future they are the voices of now so it is really important that their voices are represented, respected and that their views and ideas are valued and acted upon. 

An issue that young people care about right now

I think there are a lot of issues that young people care about right now but one of the issues that is important to me is online safety and digital wellbeing. As a society, we are extremely reliant on technology and the impact that it has on all aspects of our lives - mental health physical health, and social and emotional wellbeing.

Concerns around AI, age verifications and cyber bullying are all aspects of the digital world that are causing a lot of concern for young people and communities with limited support and guidance avaliable   Steps are being taken to campaign around the impact of technology on young people from organsitions such as 5 Rights and FlippGenn with steps being taken to encourage open conversations with schools, youth work settings, communities and organsitions on how they can implement safer technology policies and how they can use technology for the better however their is still a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of government policy.