At Young Citizens we believe a core part of any social action project is bringing other people along on the journey. People who can help you: whether that’s financially, politically, through sharing your story, or by providing additional people-power to get the job done.  

Engaging effectively with others is an incredibly important skill for children and young people to develop. For many, taking part in a social action project provides one of the first opportunities to influence people outside of their immediate circle. Communicating, persuading, reasoning with, negotiating, storytelling, seeing things from other people’s point of view... all of these skills are crucial to being able to understand, empathise with, and get the best out of our communities.   

We also know that working out who has the power to make decisions, and how to approach them, can be both tricky and frustrating for many children and young people, particularly when they have a great idea or want to action a project quickly to help get things moving. Whether it’s approaching a business leader for support with a plastic-free initiative, presenting to the Town’s Fund councillor for a grant, or lobbying the local MP to get a campaign heard in Parliament, engaging with decision-makers gives an empowering sense of agency to young people delivering social action.  

In this resource we will explore who holds ‘the power’ locally, and nationally, including political and financial decision-makers, and other influential people such as the media, and religious and community leaders. We’ll look at what it is they can, and should, be doing to help community projects such as yours, where they are located, and how best to make contact.  

Why us? Why now?

'Getting Heard’ has been produced in response to requests for support from members of our Make a Difference Challenge and Bring About Change network of schools and youth organisations. The resource aims to give educators a short introduction to what is a huge topic, so that they feel more confident about encouraging children and young people to engage with the decision-making structures around them, recognising this as a crucial piece of their civic learning journeys.   

The production of this resource has been made possible by a grant from the Co-op Community Foundation #iwill Fund, as part of our community spaces project. This is an England-wide fund and so please note, if you’re accessing this from Wales, Scotland or Ireland the specific information about elected representatives and government structures may not be correct for you.  

Please note that this resource is being made freely available to all educators, whether they work with children or young people, and so you will need to make a judgement as to which approaches and handouts are the most appropriate for the age of the young people with whom you work.