The Welsh Government have published the Children and Young People’s Plan.
Here are the links to the web pages:
– Welsh: Cynllun Plant a Phobl Ifanc | LLYW.CYMRU
– English: Children and young people’s plan | GOV.WALES
There you will find:
– the full HTML version
– the concise PDF version
– the easy read version
– a link to the Children in Wales engagement report
CWVYS is seeking to recruit and host a Taith/ILEP Youth Sector Co-ordinator with responsibility for a range of duties and projects. This post is funded via ILEP Limited and the Welsh Government.
We are looking for a skilled individual, who will ensure that the youth sector in Wales has access to information and support in order to participate in international opportunities and to benefit from the abilities, worldviews and positive engagement of international visitors to Wales.
Hours of work: 37 per week
Length of contract: 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023
Salary: £27,741
Accountability: to CWVYS Chief Executive
Place of work: Home-based (CWVYS office is in Cardiff Bay)
Applicants are invited to register initial interest in this position by e-mailing paul@cwvys.org.uk
A copy of the job description/person specification and application form will then be e-mailed in return.
When completing the application form, candidates will be expected to prove how their experience and skills match the requirements of the role as outlined in the job description and person specification.
Closing time/date for receipt of applications is 12 noon on 28 February 2022.
Applicants selected for interview will be informed of the relevant process in due course.
Thank you for your interest.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT
(BILINGUAL: WELSH/ENGLISH)
2022/23
Hours of work: 24 per week
Length of contract: 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023
Salary: £24,982 (£16,205 actual)
Accountability: to CWVYS Chief Executive
Place of work: Home-based (CWVYS office is in Cardiff Bay)
CWVYS is seeking to recruit and host a Marketing & Communications Assistant, working alongside, and in support of, the sector-wide Marketing & Communications Officer with responsibility for a range of duties and projects. This post is funded by the Welsh Government.
We are looking for a fully bilingual (Welsh and English languages), creative and skilled person who will support the marketing and communications needs of the whole youth work services sector in Wales.
Applicants are invited to register initial interest in this position by e-mailing paul@cwvys.org.uk A copy of the job description/person specification and application form will then be e-mailed in return.
When completing the application form, candidates will be expected to prove how their experience and skills match the requirements of the role as outlined in the job description and person specification.
Closing time/date for receipt of applications is 2pm on 28 February 2022.
Applicants selected for interview will be informed of the relevant process in due course.
Thank you for your interest.
Here you can find information about the international learning exchange programme for Wales from the team:
Introducing Taith
Studying, volunteering or taking a work placement abroad broadens people’s horizons, expands their skills, and brings benefits to communities and organisations here in Wales.
Through the new Taith programme for international learning exchanges, we aim to give learners of all ages and from all backgrounds across Wales the chance to benefit from these opportunities.
Taith embeds an international approach into every level of our education system. It is for people in every part of Wales, and in every type of education – schools, further and vocational education, youth work, adult education or higher education. They will not only develop their own skills and experience, but will serve as Wales’ ambassadors to the world, carrying our message that Wales is outward-looking, collaborative, and open to educational innovation.
And, in exchange, we will bring students, learners and educators from around the world to Wales. They will enrich our education and youth sectors with new approaches and ideas and will bring even greater diversity and culture to classrooms and campuses in our bilingual country.
Key points;
You can find them on Social media, please give them a follow so they can build their audience and more people in Wales will get the chance to hear about this exciting new programme.
#WorldOfOpportunityWales 🌍
Yesterday the Welsh Government website published the Written Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language responding to the final report of the Interim Youth Work Board.
Here you can find all the documents related to the Board’s report; https://www.cwvys.org.uk/interim-youth-work-board-final-report/
Follow this link to read the Written Statement: Update on the Interim Youth Work Board’s recommendations (20 December 2021) | GOV.WALES
Media Academy Cymru (MAC) are working with the Youth Endowment Fund on ‘Peer Action Collective’, a peer research innovation project!
Here is a message from the MAC team about an opportunity they currently have to join them;
We are currently recruiting a qualified youth worker to be the project co-ordinator for an exciting research project; Peer Action Collective (PAC). PAC is a ground-breaking network of young people, who are designing and conducting research about young people’s experiences of violence.
The post-holder will be responsible for supporting four teams of peer researchers to engage with other young people across communities to achieve project outcomes and help change the world!
PAC Project Co-ordinator
If you are interested in applying for this post or have any questions, please email melanie@mediaacademycymru.wales or call us on 029 20 667 668
Applications close on 06 January 2022 (midday)
Check out our website to find out more about who we are and what we do via www.mediaacademycymru.wales
Here you can find the new brochure from CWVYS’ Business Group, which launches at today’s Christmas edition of the All Wales CWVYS Members’ Meeting; BROCHURE December 21 (ENG)
It is hoped that this will provide a quick overview for members, especially those who wish to prepare information/ideas/requests for the group.
This work will be piloted around the Cardiff and Vale area starting in January.
Lizzy Bacon, who is undertaking a piece of research mapping the Voluntary Youth Sector in Wales, will use this as a research opportunity to record the needs for member organisations and request feedback on the career interests and skills developments for young people.
The first focus will be members in the Cardiff and Vale region.
As part of this, the business group members will be approaching companies to participate in the pilot, looking to secure appropriate placements for young people.
Alongside this and as part of the businesses’ CSR agendas, they will identify staff with relevant skills to volunteer and support our members in order to strengthen, sustain and grow their services.
If you have any questions, please ask our Membership & Business Support Officer Mandi, via Amanda@cwvys.org.uk
Yesterday we got the news about the appointment of a new chair for the Advisory Board overseeing the International Learning Exchange Programme. Today we are happy to be able to share with you that the new chair will be familiar to many in the youth sector, as the person who announced the ILEP on behalf of the Welsh Government back in the spring, former Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, Kirsty Williams.
We hope that Kirsty’s familiarity with and support of the youth sector in Wales will mean youth work is championed throughout the development of this programme.
Here you can find an announcement from Kirsty’s successor, Jeremy Miles MS; https://gov.wales/written-statement-international-learning-exchange-programme-update-0
If you have any thoughts you would like the former Minister and Chair of the Advisory Board to be aware of, please do share them with Helen, as she sits on that Advisory Board on behalf of CWVYS and the members network; helen@cwvys.org.uk
The Advisory Board will be meeting next Monday 25th of October, and CWVYS members can expect any key developments from that meeting to be shared in our international newsletter for November.
You may also be aware that there is an open consultation on the development of the Youth and Schools strand of the programme for you all to have your input; https://www.cwvys.org.uk/consultation-international-learning-exchange/
Dr Jenny Maher has been successful in obtaining ESF funding through the KESS programme for a Masters by Research student to work on Mapping and Evaluating the Voluntary Youth Work Sector for Wales in collaboration with The Council for Wales of Voluntary Youth Services (CWVYS).
The project, which runs from October 2021 to September 2022, addresses one of the core data limitations for the voluntary youth work sector in Wales by mapping and evaluating the sector. This is crucial as funding for youth services has been critically hit during austerity and delivery reduced and altered during the COVID-19 pandemic, while serious crimes and harms impacting youth (such as County Lines, ACES, homelessness, mental health, unemployment) have increased.
Dr Maher said: “Youth work formally and informally tackles many social harms, provides young people with opportunities and supports them through significant developments in their lives, and enables them to build positive relationships, skills and social capital. The Welsh voluntary youth work sector works with approximately 250,000 young people aged 11-25 years, with roughly 30,000 volunteers and 3,000 paid staff. Voluntary youth services provide essential support to young people and their communities’ health and wellbeing in Wales”
This empirical research will consolidate and build upon existing partner (CWVYS) projects, to deliver an intellectual audit of current voluntary youth work provision. This audit will address the intellectual challenges of: evaluating and mapping the Welsh voluntary youth work sector; identifying the gaps in provision; highlighting the value of the voluntary sector in tackling contemporary issues impacting young people; and supporting the development of a national youth information service.
This research is the basis upon which CWVYS will deliver an ‘intelligent audit’ of its member organisations and the wider voluntary youth work sector in Wales as part of the overall CWVYS work plan agreed with Welsh Government.
Paul Glaze, Chief Executive of CWVYS said: “We are very much looking forward to working on this KESS project, which will be a vital area of research for the voluntary youth work sector, providing a detailed perspective on youth work evaluation across Wales. We are absolutely delighted to welcome someone of Lizzy’s calibre to the team, are indebted to Dr Maher and Professor Williamson’s support and can’t wait to get going!”
After graduating two years ago with a Criminology undergraduate degree from Birmingham City University, Lizzy went on to work for Sussex Police as an Early Intervention Youth Coordinator, running an early intervention project for young people in Sussex. As part of this role, she worked closely with families and young people as well as community organisations to provide the best possible service for young people who are starting to come to police attention.
From speaking to young people and their families, Lizzy has a keen understanding of the key drivers of youth criminal and harmful behaviour and the value of youth work in enhancing both young people’s lives and that of their families and communities. She is looking forward to enhancing understanding of and driving best practice in voluntary youth work to influence positive changes to the sector and the lives of young people.
Dr Jenny Maher has extensive experience of undertaking collaborative research and knowledge transfer with external partners through funded research with the UN, European Commission, European Parliament, Scottish Government, DEFRA, South Wales Police and the RSPCA, and invitations to give evidence and speak at conferences (e.g. EFRA Parliament Committee and Croatian Presidency of the Council of European Union and Eurogroup for Animals). Since 2003, she has conducted empirical research and published widely on youth criminality and victimisation, with a specific focus on youth violence.
She previously consulted for the Gang Task and Finish Group for Safer Capital Partnership Cardiff (2011) and Knife Crime Group – Cardiff Youth Partnership (2010), and provided an evaluation of youth weapon use for the Valleys Race Equality Council [Valrec] & South Wales Police (2009). She has also collaborated with the RSPCA to evaluate youth violence against animals and their use in interpersonal violence (2010 & 2017). As Vice President of CWVYS she has provided guidance to the CWVYS executive committee on issues pertaining to youth delinquency and victimisation.
Professor Howard Williamson is Professor of European Youth Policy. His primary research interests are around youth policy, citizenship and social exclusion, and the role of youth work in the personal development and social integration of young people.
Over the past 30 years, he has reviewed youth policies in 21 European countries, written three volumes on ‘supporting young people in Europe’ and edited seven volumes of the History of Youth Work in Europe. He has worked closely on youth issues with the European Commission, Council of Europe, and UN. In Wales, he chaired the Wales Youth Work Partnership in the 1980s and was Vice-Chair of the Wales Youth Agency from 1991-2006. Since 2002, he has been trustee of Grassroots (Cardiff youth project), The European Alpbach Foundation and the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award for young people. His contributions to youth work and policy were recognised in his appointment to CBE in 2002 and CVO in 2017.
There is currently a consultation process open to the Youth sector, for people to feed back to the policy development team for the Welsh International Learning Exchange Programme.
Here is the consultation form; https://forms.office.com/r/dWN3vz04K0
It has many questions, but as it says on the consultation page; “anything you are unable to answer, simply leave blank.”
It also notes that “there is no save option with this form. It will take about 30 minutes to complete.”
If you are submitting a response, it might be worth writing your answers in a word document or draft email, anything that allows you to save as you go along, so that if anything fails you will still have your answers!
As part of consideration of how we can help to ensure that good quality youth work experiences are available to all young people in Wales, we need to ensure we consider ways in which we can offer greater levels of inclusion and diversity. We are therefore opening a new application round for 2022-2024 for the Strategic Voluntary Youth Work Organisation Grant.
The Grant will have two elements, the first will be based on the previous NVYO grant and for national organisations who are working across 18+ local authority areas. The second element will be for smaller specialist organisations who are delivering youth work to young people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds or those with protected characteristics.
Please see the guidance and application forms for more information:
Application form; Strategic Voluntary Youth Work Organisations Grant – Application form 2022-2024 – English Final
As in previous grant rounds, no decisions on funding will be made until budget decisions are known later in the year.
Please note, the closing date for applications is Thursday the 11 November 2021.
If you have any queries please contact the team on youthwork@Gov.wales.
The National Youth Work Conference 2021 is fast approaching, only a week to go!
The full-day virtual conference on 14 October offers a wide range of workshop sessions on issues affecting the youth work sector.
A summary of the programme can be found here; National Youth Work Conference_Programme
At the virtual event you will have the option to select a one-hour workshop and two 30-minute workshops. There is no need to select the workshops in advance – but you will need to register before 14 October to access the event – link below and further instructions on how to book here; https://www.cwvys.org.uk/youth-work-national-conference-2021-on-thursday-14-of-october-is-now-open-for-booking/
In addition, there will be keynote speeches from Jeremy Miles MS, Minister for Education and Welsh Language and from Keith Towler, Chair of the Interim Youth Work Board for Wales.
There is something for everyone, so don’t miss out!
To book your free place, please click on link:
