Party for Participation was an exciting new project to empower young people by giving them access to decision-makers’ space, by experiencing political influencing first hand and through the use of a new advocacy tool. The aims of the project were to: - To empower young people with the skills, confidence and tools to influence policy - To support mutual learning between decision-makers and young people through policy dialogue - To develop an innovative and creative advocacy resource by and for young people - To contribute to policy development on key issues for young people - To create a legacy of youth participation at Party Conferences Overall this project empowered over 700 young people through creative workshops and training and supporting them to attend political party conferences. We supported young people to take part in the party conferences of the top 4 national political parties: The Labour Party, the Conservatives, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats. They debated, lobbied, networked, and were able to experience what the life of a political campaigner is really like. They developed simple resources to support youth advocacy and share them through events across the UK. We trained them in the relevant skills before these event and encouraged them to share their knowledge with others in their local area. We then held dissemination events after the part conferences for participants to share their learning and the resource they developed. The accountability tool is available to download from our website and we have publisied this information to young people through our networks: http://byc.org.uk/resources/on-the-record.aspx. It is still being trialed with young people, and once we have finalised it then we will make it available across our programmes and make it available to other youth voice and youth leadership organisations. At the preparation and dissemination events we carried out formal evaluations using a paper form. This included questions about how participants felt about the long term impact on them as well as the quality of the event, their experience and their learning. As a result of this paper based evaluation, from the preparation and dissemination events: • 88% of young participants said as a result of the event they were more likely to take action on issues they care about • 86% of young participants said they had developed their skills to make a difference • 83% of young participants said they will pass on what they learnt to others We usually invite decision-makers into our space – young people’s space - and design the format of the encounters in line with youth work approaches and non-formal learning events. Through this project we entered spaces that are usually reserved for those with power and influence, and that young people rarely get access to. You can see a video of the Labour Conference here: https://vimeo.com/140865298 As well as having a gender balance, we were able to bring together participants from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. The project enabled us to break down some of the barriers that would usually mean young people would not access party conferences. As well as the age and gender information given through the mobilities, we also collected the following information about young participants at the training events (A1): - 26% of young participants supported were from non-white ethnic backgrounds - 15% of young participants supported identified as LGBT+ - 14% of young participants supported have a disability - 33% of young people identified themselves as belonging to disadvantaged/minority ‘groups’ (including young offenders, young carers, young people in or leaving care, and young people who have been homeless) or facing particular challenges in their lives (issues with alcohol and drug misuse, mental health problems) As well as the age and gender information given through the mobilities, we also collected the following information about young participants at the dissemination events (A3): - 24% of young participants supported were from non-white ethnic backgrounds - 12% of young participants supported identified as LGBT+ - 11% of young participants supported have a disability - 32% of young people identified themselves as belonging to disadvantaged/minority ‘groups’ (including young offenders, young carers, young people in or leaving care, and young people who have been homeless) or facing particular challenges in their lives (issues with alcohol and drug misuse, mental health problems)