Online Youth Social Action
What is social action?
As a youth worker, a focus of my practice has always been youth participation, and ensuring that young people have a voice and feel heard. One way to do this is to support campaigning on issues that impact them. For three years I coordinated a social action programme for young carers, and now, I have decided to create that space online to provide social action for home educated young people. Social action is about people coming together to learn, reflect, understand and challenge important issues within their communities.
What to expect?
There are different ways you can get involved in social action:
Mini themed social action projects
Want to have a go at social action, but don’t want to commit to a full 8 week programme? I offer mini social projects that last 3 weeks, and focus on an awareness day/month or specific theme, for example World Mental Health Day, Neurodiversity Celebration Week or random acts of kindness. These project will involve weekly group zoom sessions and activities you can complete at home.
Pay as you go weekly Social action challenges
Each week I will share a new social action challenge that the whole family can join in with and you can do at home, this could be based around a specific theme or encouraging thinking about individual social action activities or campaigning in your local community. All resources will be sent in advance when you sign up.
Free monthly campaign space
It is important that you have the opportunity to share progress and celebrate achievements, whether you have taken part in weekly individual challenges, online groups or you’re involved in other social action in your local community. The monthly online campaign space will be an opportunity to come together, learn about others work, share interesting campaigns you’ve been involved in or opportunities that would interest other too.
In depth social action projects
The in depth social action projects run in 8 week blocks, with a maximum of 8-10 young people per group. This is to ensure there is time and space for each member of the group to be heard, and it feels manageable in an online environment. Young people will meet weekly to work on a creative social action project together, where they will discuss issues important to them and decide together how to tackle it. These projects can include, creating a social media campaign, producing a podcast, creating a video or publishing their own creative writing. Young people will be supported throughout the process, to explore issues, learn about things that matter most to them, and to engage with decision makers to implement changes. The sessions will be entirely youth led, with the group taking the lead on the direction of their campaign. The final output from the project will be very much guided by what the young people want to do, this can include raising awareness, digital campaigns, hosting an online event or other creative activities. At the end of each block, we will host an online celebration showcase, where parents/carers/important people in the young people’s lives are invited to attend to celebrate their achievements from the ten weeks.
Structure of the in depth social action projects
Week 1: Introduction to social action
This session introduces young people to social action, and each other. We’ll play some online games to get to know others in the groups, complete a group agreement, and share what they hope to get out of the social action programme.
Week 2: Choosing a topic and understanding it well
In week 2 we’ll begin to think about the topic we want to focus on. Young people will take part in participatory activities to help prompt thoughts about the issues directly affecting them and the wider community, both locally and internationally. At the end of week young people will have taken part in discussion activities about issues that matter most to them, pitched ideas for the group to focus on, and voted on the suggestions.
Week 3: Find out and research
Once we have our topic, it is now time to gather information and research it. This process is very much youth led, and could involve, inviting a local charity to speak on a specific issue, carrying out desk based research, interviewing people in a specific field, or devising surveys to share to gather information. This process enables the young people to learn more about their chosen topic, and to move forward with their campaign.
Week 4: Discuss and plan
This is the fun bit! The young people share and discuss the information they have collected, and explore options of activities they could do, this could include, producing videos, social media campaigns, posters, spoken word, podcasts or pieces of writing or music. They decide who to target for their campaign, and agree on the best method to do so. This will involve compromise and cooperation, so that they can work together to explore ideas to address their chosen topic.
Week 5 & 6: Take action
This is when we get creative and put our planning into action. These sessions will be entirely led by the activity and topic young people have chosen to focus on, and may include workshops, filming videos, delivering a talk, recording speeches, or designing graphics for social media. These sessions focus on communicating their knowledge and skills to others, in an informative and creative way.
Week 7: Celebration and showcase of young peoples work
After the sessions, we will host an online showcase for parents/carers and other important people in the young people’s lives. During this event young people will share their work, and reflect on their participation in the programme. There will also be online games (and maybe a quiz!) to keep it fun and engaging.
Week 8: Evaluate
The group will come back together for a final session to take part in reflective, interactive evaluation activities, to help them evaluate their work but also think about the skills they have developed on an individual level throughout the sessions. They can also discuss “what now?” and ways they can continue their campaigning beyond this social action project.
When and who can join?
The online social action groups are suitable for young people 10-16, and the other social action activities are designed the whole family to get involved, and will also keep younger children engaged! The in depth social action programme takes place on Mondays 1pm - 2.30pm and the mini social action groups take place on Mondays 11am - 12.30pm. The campaign space takes place once a month on Monday 3 - 4pm.
Why get involved?
Throughout the social action programme young people will improve their confidence in a variety of core skills, including:
Problem-solving
Negotiation
Empathy
Critical and creative thinking
Leadership
Debating
Building relationships with others
Self awareness
Building self esteem
Public speaking
Creative campaigning
How do I sign up ?
Blocks for the mini and in depth social action projects are booked in advance with different dates available throughout the year. You are welcome to sign up to attend more than one block as the projects will be different each time. Pay as you go weekly challenges are £3 booked and paid for weekly, with all resources sent to you in advance. The campaign space is free but booking is needed so I know who to expect for the session.
Dates and how to book onto our next block of social action sessions will be available soon. In the mean time, please register your interest, and more information will be sent to you: