Leaders can wear baggy trousers

Sorry, I haven’t blogged for a while, primarily because my new job (details) that kind of took over the last couple of weeks (plus my birthday).

During that time, two interesting new pieces of news broke. Firstly the report of the Youth Citizenship Commission, and secondly the launch of The Youth of Today, the butterfly that resulted from the caterpillar that was the National Body for Youth Leadership.

I’ve been wanting to blog about the Youth Citizenship Commission since it reported the Friday before last, but having seen the reaction from others it doesn’t exactly set the world alight. Perhaps I should at least read the whole report prior to writing about it, but if the press release is anything to go by I can’t exactly imagine it being a riveting read.

Yes, there are some interesting nuggets of ideas, including keeping schools open when polling is going on and proper funding of UKYP, but essentially it boiled down to revealing that young people felt disengaged with politics and that there needed to be better citizenship education in schools. Hardly earth shattering.

What was even more disappointing was its stance on Votes at 16.  Personally I’m in favour of a reduction of the voting age, although I don’t actually think it’s the number one priority and I understand there are quite reasonable arguments against reducing it. So what annoyed me the most about the commission’s finding was that they didn’t come to a conclusion. If the Government of the day produces a Green Paper, asks a commission to investigate various elements of it, it doesn’t really want it to come back going “erm, we don’t really know – make your own mind up.” That’s a bit like a forensic scientist saying “well, what do you think happened?”.

And, once again, I see mandatory volunteering being bandied about: this time for Key Stage 4 pupils. I’m all for using lesson time to allow young people to help in their community (I used to help out at a local school instead of do PE), but I really worry when I see words like compulsory being thrown into the mix. Before it becomes compulsory, someone has to at least answer the concern that it could alienate a generation of future volunteers.

Perhaps what is most depressing though is that I can’t help feeling somewhat cynical that the much more radical Power Inquiry came up with far more exciting solutions to these problems, yet it faded into nothing. What is the point of these inquiries if change doesn’t come about from them?

The Youth of Today looks a more promising proposition. I’ve already blogged about it when the original proposal was announced, and I still really hope it is a catalyst for recognising the importance of developing young leaders. But, as other commentators have pointed out, my reaction was that it seems a bit too heavy on the institutionalised mandate: leadership appears to be about MPs, councillors and similar elected bodies. I realise there are other schemes that promote innovation and individual excellence, but I’d hope the Youth of Today takes a broader, more grassroots approach to what leadership is. With the exception of our friend in the States, I struggle to think of many politicians who really fit my idea of what good leadership is. And not all young leaders get excited by the prospect of a trip to the Houses of Parliament.

As an example of what I mean, I’ve been party to conversations about the Young Achievers Awards, an independent charity that seeks to recognise inspirational youth volunteers (colleagues of mine are trustees for the charity). Young Achievers Awards are presented to people like Ryan Hartson, a 23-year-old from Rotherham, who was described by his MV co-ordinator as “an all round mentor and role model to literally hundreds of young people.” Ryan initially helped and then ran dance lessons, before organising a Battle of the Bounce competition that attracted over 200 young people. He’s gone into schools to talk about his work, not bad for someone who had to deal with bullies when he was younger due to a speech impediment.

As part of his prize for winning a Young Achievers Award, Ryan met with Jonzi D, artistic director of Breakin’ Convention (an international festival of hip hop dance). As a result of that meeting, Ryan was invited to audition for this year’s convention in Nottingham. His company was successful, and got the opportunity to perform with some of the biggest names in hip hop theatre.  They’ve also performed in Bradford as part of the Breakin’ Convention there, as you can see:

Apart from being a great opportunity for Ryan, what was brilliant was the feedback from the Breakin’ Convention, which included him being described as “very organised and a complete joy to have on our stage.” To me, Ryan absolutely symbolises what a young leader should be about, and exactly the sort of person that The Youth of Today should be championing.

Incidentally, you might like to know that this year’s Young Achievers Awards are now open. You’ve got until the 27^th September to nominate a suitable young person.

Image courtesy of colodio. Used under licence.

Young people as trustees

On Wednesday we had a meeting at work to discuss recruiting new trustees for YouthNet, and in particular the desire to get “youth trustees” onto our board.  We’ve been having similar discussions at the charity I’m a trustee of, the Citizenship Foundation, where I think I am if not the youngest, I’m certainly not that much older than the youngest.

It’s an issue that a lot of youth charities are trying to tackle. The perception is that traditionally trustees were the great-and-the-good, retired professionals brought in for their contacts, experience and (often) wealth. It was therefore reassuring to see that of the 10 people sat around the table at our meeting on Wednesday, all but two were trustees and none of those were over 40 (I think).  It’s worth saying that it was a self-selecting group, so I guess people interested in developing our board are more likely to be trustees themselves. And YouthNet has a pretty proactive workforce.

Like many youth charities, YouthNet already has ‘user panels’ that help guide staff how on decisions that affect the services we provide. We also regularly receive feedback from users, undertake consultations and surveys and get out and meet young people (although possibly not as often as we’d like). So why, in addition to this, is there a feeling that young people should also be involved as trustees of a charity?

Trustees provide the governace of a charity; they are there to keep it accountable. It makes sense that a charity should be accountable to its benefactors. Many charities also see being a trustee as a development opportunity in itself. Charities like the Young Achievers Trust and British Youth Council recruit only young trustees for those reasons.

But for other youth charities, having young people on their board ensures the other trustees can fuse their knowledge and expertise with the benefactor’s personal experience. Young trustees often help remind everyone the real reason the charity exists. My previous employer, Headliners, had ‘graduate trustees’ – young people who had recently been benefactors but were then recruited on to the trustee board alongside other trustees.

Ultimately trustees are there to prevent the organisation from abusing its charitable status. They are financially liable for the decisions that the charity makes and as a result can’t be aged under 18 [Edit: see comments]. Charities with multi-million pound turnovers need trustees who can scrutinise complex spreadsheets, understand employment law and hold senior management to account.  They need to think strategically, take an external view of the charity, ask difficult questions and challenge perceived wisdom within the organisation. Whilst there are undoubtedly young people who can (and do) do that adequately, those are big asks for anyone who doesn’t have significant experience in management.

So how do you ensure that young people are involved in the governance of charities, without it becoming tokenistic or simply involving high-achieving young people? And should the organisation be involved in supporting the young person who is a trustee, or should that be down to the trustees themselves?

I have my own views, but I’d be grateful for others thoughts on involving young people as trustees.

(Usual disclaimer applies)

Photo courtesy of IRRI Images, and shows the International Rice Research Institute Board of Trustees, presumably with some benefactors. Used under licence.