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Bringing together youth representatives from climate and conservation charities
In the green, rolling hillocks of England’s Midlands (and surrounded by a constellation of tents), youth representatives, youth engagement managers, and senior leaders from 12 of our collective organisations headed to Camp100 for the day.
It was a chance to connect face-to-face, celebrate the progress across the Forum and our organisations, and mark 100 years of one of our member organisations – the Woodcraft Folk.
The first session was dedicated to the Future Forum Youth Voice Workstream sharing the Framework they had been refining over the past six months. This living document outlines criteria that makes youth voice effective, representative, and impactful within organisations.
In this session, our collective added best practice examples from their own experiences to the Framework, and each organisation created a Custom Action Plan for something they had been inspired to work on within their own organisation.
Connor: “As the sole representative attending from my organisation (Field Studies Council), I particularly appreciated that multiple organisations were mixed for the groups. I found that the mix of opinions and strategies not only helped to push forward the conversation but also gave me many ideas to bring back to my own organisation.”
Tristian: “Friends of the Earth is an amazing organisation that has allowed me to flourish as a young representative. At the Future Forum, we were able to share some of our best practices with others in the sector, such as a focus on inclusivity. We also felt empowered to make suggestions for where we could improve, to be better equipped to lead the movement into the future.”
The second session, led by community arts facilitator Christie Swallow, invited the Future Forum to explore visual ways of communicating sustainability. Moving beyond conversations about our organisations, we shared the lived experiences behind our sustainability stories and used them to discuss broader themes of systems thinking.
Connor: “The relaxed outdoor setting and the creative medium of using paint pens on fabric made it easier to engage with others and open up about our individual experiences. Being encouraged to draw rather than write ideas made me really think in a different way to usual.”
As the event drew to a close, there was a sense of energy in the air. Our Future Forum Chair, Lisa Hoerning, described the feeling as “the next wave of youth-led environmental leadership” in her opening speech, and by the end of the day, that wave was clearly in motion.
Tristian: “Young people’s voices are often only used as sound bites to support plans that were made without us. We haven’t been given the tools to organise and enact change on our own terms. The world is on fire, and the extinguisher has been put on the top shelf… out of our reach. Having a supportive environment to collaborate with other youth branches and share notes on developing opportunities was a gamechanger.”
Written by Tristian (Friends of the Earth – Youth Rep for Northern Ireland) and Connor (Field Studies Council – Youth Rep)