North Belfast Young Voices
North Belfast Young Voices is a project of Include Youth working in partnership with young people and the police. The project is managed by Include Youth.
The North Belfast Young Voices post is a new and exciting endeavour for the Young Voices project, which focuses specifically on North Belfast, and utilises a model of practice akin to that of Young Voices, consulting and exploring policing issues with young people aged 11-25, within the area. The project has been running since April 2006 with the overall aim to improve communication and relationships between the police and young people in the North Belfast remit, enabling more effective and positive engagement.
The background context of this project is that of a research survey undertook by the Institute for Conflict Research in 2004/2005 in North Belfast, published by the Northern Ireland Policing Board, which recommended that police should inform, consult with and learn to understand young people better in North Belfast.
Since April 2006 the Project has engaged with a wide variety of statutory, community, voluntary and other groups in order to promote awareness of the Project and develop community relationships within the North Belfast area. The First phase of the Project consists of exploratory focus group sessions looking at the young peoples' experiences and attitudes around policing, with the emergence of themes upon which to develop if the young people want to proceed.
The Second phase of the Project involves the project worker in consultation with young people devising a programme for the group that could help to address the issues raised during phase one. This is slightly different for each group as it is tailored to the nature of the young people and the local context. In conjunction with young people, youth/community workers, police and other relevant parties, the project then worked towards identifying potential ways of improving youth-police communication and relations in the area. Young people do not meet with police until if and when they and their communities feel able and willing to do so.
Part of this second phase may consist of more discussion and exploration of youth and policing issues, involving the project worker, local worker and the young people. With young people's consent, the police have an active role during this phase, meeting young people from their local area in a variety of settings and taking part in social and rapport building activities. These are crucial in developing lines of constructive dialogue.
The Project also engages with Police at all levels, striving to work closely with police in the North Belfast District Command Unit in order to build their capacities to work with young people, providing opportunities to discuss youth issues, whilst exploring potential solutions and models of practice in which to respond more effectively to young people. Part of this engagement with Police is through a series of training/seminar sessions, designed to raise awareness of youth culture and youth-policing experiences in North Belfast.
Additionally the Project Worker is involved in various other initiatives related to youth-police issues, advocating on behalf of young people, whilst comprehending wider community concerns.
For more information or details on how to get involved please contact Nicola Farrell at our Belfast office or email nicola@includeyouth.org