‘Speak Up’ is a youth strategy group comprising of highly motivated young people aged 12-25 who are actively making a difference in the communities of Inverclyde and are working to improve the lives of all young people in the area. The group was originally established to ensure that young people had an independent voice in the community and were consulted and listened to on important issues that affect them, however it has developed for itself a role as an active campaign body within Inverclyde, hosting events and utilising technology to raise awareness of important issues such as knife crime (No Knives, Better Lives) and staying safe online (Safety Net Inverclyde). This in turn has helped to improve the safety and wellbeing of other young people in Inverclyde.
PLANNING / · a clear rationale, defined processes and focus on stakeholder needs· contributes to organisation’s goals and addresses current or emerging challenges
Traditionally, young people can be a hard to reach group, yet it is vital that they are provided with the opportunity to shape the services that affect them and that key messages that help them to be safe are imparted in a way that they can relate to.
‘Speak Up’ is part of the Community Learning and Development Youth Work Sub Group and was established in 2006 as a means of effectively engaging with young people in the area. The group comprises of 18 young people aged between 12 -25. The group meets every week for around 3 hours to discuss a variety of issues affecting young people within the area. Regular, dynamic meetings have ensured an approachable and crucially, honest, frank and open place to exchange ideas amongst the young people. The meetings are also open to any young person who wishes to ‘drop in’. ‘Speak Up’ is supported by Inverclyde Council’s Children’s Rights Officer and the Community Learning and Development service.
The group has achieved notable success in promoting the message of the Scottish Government’s ‘No Knives, Better Lives’ campaign and helping to reduce knife violence in Inverclyde. Success has not just been confined to Inverclyde, the work of the group has also impressed the Scottish Government Justice Secretary and consequently shaped the roll out of the national campaign. Inverclyde was initially chosen to pilot this national initiative because the incidence of knife crime was providing cause for concern. Prior to the campaign, in one 10 week period there were 2 attempted murders, 47 serious assaults and 28 people caught carrying knives in Inverclyde. The campaign was aimed at 11-17 year olds who live in areas that are affected by knife crime.
Some of the ways in which the group has engaged with its target audience includes youth consultation events to raise awareness of the dangers of carrying a knife and using film media to portray the consequences of knife crime, which was posted on You Tube and the Speak Up Bebo website. The group also hosted a youth event to showcase Inverclyde’s support of the No Knives, Better Lives campaign, which was attended by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.
The work of ‘Speak Up’ isn’t all serious discussion, local events such as foam parties, beach parties and Battle of the Bands are regularly organised where more than 1000 young people attend to have a good time.
At a strategic level, ‘Speak Up’ is helping to deliver the Council’s Corporate Plan strategic outcomes, in particular to support residents in Inverclyde to become Educated, Informed and Responsible Citizens by ensuring that our children are responsible and active citizens, to promote Healthy, Caring Communities by ensuring the protection of our vulnerable children and Safe, Sustainable Communities in order to make Inverclyde a place where people want to live both now and in the future.
Speak Up is also closely aligned with 3 of Inverclyde’s 8 SOA strategic outcomes. The work of the group helps to ensure that: (i) Communities are stronger, responsible and more able to identify, articulate and take action on their needs and aspirations to bring about an improvement in the quality of community life, (ii) All our young people have the best start in life and (iii) Inverclyde is a place where people want to live now whilst at the same time safeguarding the environment for future generations.
DELIVERING / · implemented in all relevant areas and across all the required stakeholders· carried out in a structured and logical way , using robust and sustainable methods
‘Speak Up’ worked with the Scottish Government and Inverclyde Council to raise awareness of knife crime during the pilot phase of the Scottish Government Initiative ‘No Knives, Better Lives’ campaign’. There are two key strands to No Lives, Better Lives in Inverclyde
(i) engagement with young people in schools and
(ii) engagement with young people in the community.
As a group of young people themselves, ‘Speak Up’, were ideally placed to drive forward both strands and played (and continue to play) a pivotal role in promoting the key messages of the campaign. Initially, the group organised a youth event to raise awareness of the dangers of carrying a knife and more importantly, the consequences of knife violence for the young person, the victim, families, as well as the wider ramifications. Prior to the event a number of posters and chalk drawings with statistics and warning messages were placed around the area. The young people also designed a questionnaire and consulted with 372 young people during the event. Further consultation was carried out within their schools. The ‘Speak Up’ survey found that:
· 17% of young people (aged 12-18) knew someone that carried a knife
· 20% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that carrying a knife was good for protection
· 11% of young people had been threatened by someone with a knife
· It was felt that males under the age of 18 were most likely to carry a knife
However,
· 87% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that carrying a knife ruins lives
· 82% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that carrying a knife is not worth the risk
The survey results provided the group with a reliable indication of the target audience and the extent of the dangers of knife crime facing young people. Encouragingly, it also showed that the overwhelming majority of young people agreed that carrying a knife was not worth it.
To reach as many young people as possible and in a way that was fast, cost effective, accessible and reliable, ‘Speak Up’, used the Bebo social networking site as the main website for the campaign. Here local young people were able to pledge their support and promote campaign activity. This provided access to around 1000 local people and provided a platform for a strong voice of support. In order to raise awareness within the wider community the group recorded a short film, focusing on the consequences of knife crime that was played during youth events. The film was also posted on the Bebo site and You Tube.
‘Speak Up’ have organised a number of under 18’s discos, concerts, Battle of the Band competition and have been actively involved in the planning and organising of the Youth Festival events, such as Youth in the Park, which was attended by 2000 teenagers. These events are used to relay important message to young people on how to stay safe and where to go for support if required.
Members of the group have also met with MSPs to feedback to them and other youth organisations.
INNOVATION + LEADING PRACTICE / · Demonstrates leading practice, and is capable of replication elsewhere· Achieves genuine innovation or new ways of working
Achieving effective engagement with young people and capturing their attention in an imaginative way them is difficult. By developing an innovative, multi-faceted, approach ‘Speak Up’ has been able to achieve this and more in a way that can be described as leading practice in this field. This is evidenced by the level of local and national interest in the work of the group over the past year:
· Member of the group have appeared and given interviews on STV news, local and national press and radio stations.
· The work carried out by ‘Speak Up’ has featured in ‘End of Term’, which is a magazine that is distributed to every school child in Scotland.
· The Scottish Government has credited ‘Speak Up’ as being the most important factor in driving the ‘No Knives, Better Lives’ campaign locally (Interview with Justice Secretary, Greenock Telegraph).
· Members of the group have delivered presentations to the Scottish Parliament and spoken with Ministers.
· In rolling out the No Knives, Better Lives campaign nationally, the Scottish Government said that the tactics used in Inverclyde would be used as the template for the rest of the country.
Examples of the innovative approach adopted by ‘Speak Up’ in this campaign and in their wider work include:
· The group maximise the number of young people it reaches by using social networking sites to promote their messages, e.g. their Bebo social networking site was the main website for the No Knives, Better Lives campaign. Here local young people pledged their support and promoted campaign activity, this provided access to around 1000 young people and helped ensure strong support for the campaign.
· Events that are of interest and popular with young people such as beach and foam parties have been organised by the group. To demonstrate support for the No Knives, Better Lives campaign, under 18s attending these events were invited to sign the ‘Better Lives Pledge Wall’ created and designed by ‘Speak Up’.
· The group also came up with the idea and developed an online declaration supporting the ‘No Knives, Better Lives’ message.
· As part of a Safety Net campaign, the group distributed leaflets on the potential dangers of the internet such as cyberbullying, ‘sexting’ and online privacy. The leaflets contained tips on how to stay safe surfing online and have been distributed to local retailers selling PCs / laptops. The group produced two leaflets, one for parents and young people, each offering different tips and information tailored to the respective audience.
The Scottish Government Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary, has said in the press that the members of ‘Speak Up’ are ‘a credit to themselves, their families and their communities’. The Justice Secretary has also said that the young people “deserved huge credit for coming up with the idea of a pledge in support of the No Knives, Better Lives drive’.
The group are now working closely with Renfrewshire Youth Voice, a youth group from Renfrewshire Council who contacted Speak Up to ask for their help as they were aware of the success they had with their pilot campaign. The groups have worked closely together to develop No Knives, Better Lives Phase 2. This has involved joint consultations in Inverclyde and Paisley, joint awareness raising events, sharing ideas and resources and putting together a funding bid to the Scottish Government to continue raising awareness of the dangers of knife crime and carrying a knife.
RESULTS + IMPACT / · a convincing mix of customer and internal performance measures· clear line of sight to the delivery of better outcomes for communities
· a full range of relevant results– either already achieved or with potential to deliver over time
Perhaps the greatest achievement of ‘Speak up’ is that as a direct result of their work, real improvements have been achieved in making communities safer and promoting the message of No Knives to young people. Strathclyde Police statistics show that knife crime fell by 35% during the No Knives, Better Lives pilot campaign in Inverclyde. This was despite double the number of police searches carried out during the pilot. Overall, far fewer young people are now carrying knives.
A Scottish Government evaluation of the No Knives, Better Lives campaign found it to be effective, which can largely be attributed to the work of ‘Speak Up’. It found that the campaign has actually had an impact on the thinking and opinions of young people.
· 75% of the target audience had seen or heard advertising about knives/ knife crime recently, increasing with age (83% of 17 year olds)
· Key messages (many victims/ not worth the risks/ no knives better lives) have cut through strongly
· The activity is likely to get talked about (65%) and was seen a thought provoking (42%)
· The campaign was also discussed extensively on youth forums. The local newspaper, the Greenock Telegraph also ran 7 full page pieces of positive coverage over a 5 week period.
· 75% of young people had seen the knife crime messages around the area.
· 6% thought the advertising was aimed at them.
COSLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2012 Page | 4
COSLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2012 Page | 4