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Youth Advisory Group

The youth advisory group try out their communication skills drawing 'back-to-back'

The NYCI Youth Advisory Group (YAG) was set up in 2004 to advise the Development Education programme on its work and to keep it relevant to Young People. The YAG is open to young people aged between 16-20 years of age involved in youth work from anywhere in the country. (Photo above: YAG members try out their communication skills by drawing 'back-to-back')

What is the Youth Advisory Group?

Upcoming meetings and new members

Information on recent meetings

Feedback from YAG members

What is the Youth Advisory Group?

The NYCI Youth Advisory Group (YAG) was set up in 2004 to advise the Development Education programme on its work and to keep it relevant to Young People. The YAG is open to young people aged between 16-20 years of age involved in youth work from anywhere in the country. NYCI gains the benefit of a youth perspective and the young people benefit by being trained up in development education issues and working with like minded people in a fun environment.The group meets three times a year. Regular meetings usually take place on Saturdays in Dublin city centre. Once a year a residential meeting is held for a weekend. The 2011 residential weekend took place in Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation and the 2010 residential in YMCA Greenhill Outdoor Centre in Newcastle, Co. Down.

At the moment, the YAG has members from the following organisations:

Upcoming meetings and new members

The first meeting of 2012 will take place on Saturday 3 March in Dublin. If you are interested, you can download a nomination form here. Young people aged under 18 must bring a signed consent form from a parent/guardian to every meeting. Contact us for a copy of the form.

  Recent meetings

The last meeting of 2011 took place in Dublin in October. A review of the year was carried out, and plans made for One World Week central events.

The 2011 residenital meeting took place from 30 June - 2 July as a residential meeting in Glencree. The YAG members became more familiar with the 2011 One World Week theme ('A Rich Man's World?') offering suggestions for activites and the central action. The YAG also developed their facilitation skills and learned from each other's approached and styles when doing global justice in a youth work setting. The YAG members were also involved in a consultation for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs on International Youth Cooperation as part of the Polish Presidency of the EU. Following consultations at national level, 3 young people (aged between 18-30) will be nominated via NYCI to represent Ireland at a European conference in Warsaw in September. To find out more, contact us.

 

Mind map created by the YAG looking at interconnectedness of social justice and global issues

Mind map linking global issues created by the YAG

 

YAG members visit the German Soldiers' Graveyard in Glencree

YAG members visit the German Soldiers' Graveyard in Glencree

At a YAG meeting in the NYCI offices on 16 October 2010, the YAG provided advice and suggestions on the organisation of the One World Week central event in Dublin on 20 November, and participated in a mask-making workshop.

Members of the YAG with their plain masks before the workshop

Members of the YAG display the masks they made at their meeting on the theme of 'Images and Messages in Development'

 

Feedback from YAG members

Below is the perspective of some of the members on why they like being in the NYCI YAG, and participating in the Residential Weekend:

"We all travelled from different parts of the country, coming together, in ones and twos, to form this group. We didn’t exactly know what to expect but we were all excited and anxious to get cracking. Alan and Elaine, who lead the group, started us off with some simple ice-breakers, which really helped everybody to relax and get to know each other.

This fostered a warm and friendly atmosphere which lasted the weekend. While the main focus of the weekend was the workshops, it was the fun and activities outside these workshops that really brought us together.

We’ve met up a few times since then and the positive, friendly atmosphere is still there. There are always new people but and they are made part of the group straight away. We all arrive in ones and twos but we leave as a group and at the end, you always feel like you’ve achieved something together."

For further information please contact the project officer at deved@nyci.ie