Peabody

Westminster via Tower Hamlets: encouraging young people to have their say in politics and why their vote matters

Six out of ten young people voted in the last general election. This is despite a generation of young people keen to express their views and connect with others online using social media.

‘Relationship Status: It’s Complicated’, a Key Action 3 Structured Dialogue for Youth project, is a twelve-month programme of political engagement, dialogue and influencing, run for and by young people. Over 90 young people aged 14-24 will discuss key issues in education, safety, active citizenship and personal development with decision makers at national level. The project engages young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to feel they have a voice, and importantly, their opinions are put into action.

The first event started with the theme ‘Unharnessed Political Power of Young People’. This brought together 30 young people, decision makers and influencers including representatives from Westminster, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets councils to engage with young people. Former Youth MP for Westminster, Aby Murray, gave a passionate speech about young people engaging in politics, as well as the young Mayors from Lewisham and Tower Hamlets both speaking.

Political snakes and ladders

Samid Ahmed from the core group in Tower Hill spoke about his involvement in the Erasmus+ funded project and why the issues that young people care about such as education, safety, crime and genuine access to sustainable careers are political issues that need to be addressed; so young people should be included in important conversations. There were a number of activities including ‘political snakes and ladders' and young people were asked to use speech bubbles and post it notes to explain which political issues they are particularly passionate about.

The event at Westminster Council brought together motivated young people and hopefully we influenced some of them to vote in the election. If we don’t vote, our opinions won’t be listened to – Samid Ahmed, participant

Want to find out more about structured dialogue opportunities? Visit our apply for youth dialogue page.