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#YouthVoiceNews 8th January 2026: Bitesize

Editor

Welcome to #YouthVoice News and Opportunities – a regular roundup from the world of youthvoice, participation, and influence. This BITESIZE edition has shorter headlines with links for further detail, PLUS regular features like – recommended, opportunities and resources. Subscribe for free here, and access back issues. This week:

#YouthVoiceNews is produced by Young Voices Heard CIC as a non-profit venture, and edited by a volunteer.

NEWS

⭐New Year’s Honours recognises youth voice. Congratulations to Serena Wiebe BEM (20) and Ffion Mitchell-Langford BEM (29), two younger names on the Honours list, who have been recognised for their exceptional public service. Read More here. Since 2012, YVH has been compiling and updating a YouthHonoursList from the New Year’s and Birthday Honours, and sharing 75 of their case studies on the website/ YoungVoiceHeard.org.uk Campaign4YouthRecognition, to inspire more nominations of young people (excluding sports/celebrities). Link to materials and a video on how to nominate. Why not make ‘nominating someone special’ as one of your 2026 NewYearResolutions?

#YouthStrategyWatch – on promises in action. Welcome to #YouthStrategyWatch, a regular feature tracking the Government’s promises to embed #youthvoice and influence as part of the Government’s 10 year Youth Strategy. At the end of 2025 Youth Voice News produced a Special Edition to highlight the Strategy’s Young Persons Report and the role of #youthvoice in shaping the strategy with links to a number of promises by the Government to follow through with action:  1/ to create a new national ‘Youth Policy Network’ that would co-produce policy; 2/ a promise to work with local areas to establish new Local Youth Councils across England; 3/ to be accountable to young people through a new website for young people, which will contain updates on the delivery of the strategy, and 4/ a commitment to invite a diverse group of young people to run a new Annual National Hearing on the delivery of the strategy.

#Youthvoice champion Kayleigh Wainwright’s announced (on LinkedIn) that she will be continuing her secondment from @UKYouth at DCMS for another year. She had been leading the co-production process team, notably the involvement of young people in shaping a programme of consultation. This year she is “..building on that momentum, working with the sector to embed the Strategy and co-design the first steps, and most importantly continuing to place young people at the heart of policy making.”

⚡150 youth organisations sign up to NYA’s ‘Youth Council UK’ | Youth ‘Board’ nominations open. New members for the revived successor to the British Youth Council, have been sent an elections guidance pack on how to nominate reps (age to be confirmed but likely to be 16+) to a new Executive Committee/Board. It’s expected they will be joined by older ‘advisors’ in due course, with details of a youth-led structure to be shared on the information website at NYA YCUK  soon, so check for updates. For more info or to find out if your organisation is a member, contact ycuk@nya.org.uk  Note: timeline for activity is subject to change.

Greater Manchester 2026 embeds youthvoice and influence in civic society: Mayor backs youth participation. Read more here [press-at] The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has awarded Youth Leads UK a contract to deliver its Youth Civic Leadership Programme for 2026, following two successful years of delivery from 2024. “I want every young person in Greater Manchester to know that civic leadership is for them. We have the fastest growing youth population in the country so it’s vital that young people are heard and involved in shaping our future – whether that’s as school governors, trustees, youth board members, or the next generation of councillors and magistrates. Getting involved in civic life is essential.” Andy Burnham, Mayor.

💡Youth Advisory Group:  Spotlight – A year of Youth Advisory Group impact – Emergency Services Times, Ashleigh Davies, on how the YourPoliceUK Youth Advisory Group (aged 13-20) influenced its digital youth engagement programme via Instagram (which reaches 300,000 yp a month) and the wider policing world. This case study illustrates the role and potential of supported youth advisory groups with evidence-based evaluation and a culture of continuous development.

⚡ Recommended Reads – on LinkedIn / DECEMBER

Editors pick from  #youthvoice influencers/commentators on LinkedIn. Check out the comments too! Note that whilst some are using LinkedIn to write mini-blogs others are going with the video format – Which do you prefer?

⭐Millicent Wenlock, Chair of the Care Experience Movement & #iwillAmbassador challenges us to remember going forward in 2026 that #youthvoice “is not a tickbox exercise” and to guard against it being “performative”. Read post here.

⭐Millicent Wenlock, – again! This post reminded me that too few young changemakers, influencers and youthvoice champions are recognised (See Campaign4YouthRecognition). Millicent lists her ones to watch in 2026!

⭐Jade Barnet, CEO Power2Prevail challenges organisations and campaigns that are ‘all about youthvoice’ to continue the journey beyond first contact, “Please don’t include young people in your campaigns, publications, or calls to action if you’re not prepared to continue including them as the work moves forward..Where was the call when decisions were being made?” Read the full post here

          OPPORTUNITIES to “mobilise your youthvoice”

YOUTH VOICE OPPORTUNITIES

Our pick #youthvoice opportunities. For a broader range of early career/skill-building opportunities, go to our friends’ website, Youth Opportunities | Early Career and Skill Building roles in the UK

⚡Young Citizens – Young Trustee (18-25) closing date 18th January Could you be our new Young Trustee? – Young Citizens (I was a trustee here for five years and advocated for the introduction of younger trustees to the board, great to see its now the norm – recommended/James Cathcart Dir Young Voices Heard)

⚡Student Minds – Trustees 18-30. closing date 15th January 26. Click Youth Opportunities SM for details.

⚡Children’s Commissioner England is recruiting 16 young people for her final group of Young Ambassadors. To apply, you need to live in England and be aged 16 or 17 years old in April 2025. “Over the past two years, my first two groups of Youth Ambassadors have talked truth to power, bringing their voices and experiences to Secretaries of State, parliamentary Select Committees, CEOs of major companies and policy makers across government.” Deadline Sunday January 11th 2026. More info and application 

If you have a #youthvoice opportunity coming up, drop us a line info@youngvoicesheard.org.uk

⚡Trustee positions – Interested in becoming a trustee? Only 3% of trustees are under the age of 30. Find under-30-friendly trustee boards through the Young Trustees Movement

SUPPORTERS OPPORTUNITIES

⚡Centre for Youth Voice: Free Training and Events timetable

February 24th – Community of Practice: Evidencing Impact and Change of Youth Voice: We’re bringing organisations together to look at how we collectively evidence the impact of youth voice.

Multiple dates – Involving Young People in Services: Professor Kaz Stuart is delivering three training sessions around creating opportunities, supporting, and evaluating young people’s involvement in services.

Multiple dates – Peer Research Toolkit Training: Based on the toolkit, we are delivering 90-minute training sessions on different aspects of the peer research approach, with presentations and Q&As.

RESOURCES:

⚡ Resource/ Training – Gamifying Democracy, The Politics Project

“This training is ideal for youth practitioners and teachers looking for meaningful, practical, and enjoyable ways to bring politics to life with young people. In this training, we’ll share games and activities you can use in youth settings to start conversations about politics and democracy. Designed for group settings in informal spaces, youth clubs, and classrooms, these games help young people explore their power, voice and their ideas for change. The easy-to-use games we’ll share in the training are specifically designed to support young people to explore their power and agency, their ideas and opinions about local, national and global topics, and their emotions towards politics and politicians. We are running this training three times, all online. Please sign up to the session most convenient to you:

⚡Resource: Involving Young People – A Toolkit for Peer Research  / free / Centre for YouthVoice | The Centre for Youth Voice is committed to moving the sector beyond consultation toward genuine co-production. We are delighted to share the new Peer Research Toolkit, produced in partnership with Partnership for Young London and Trust for London.Drawing on a decade of learning and the expertise of over 200 peer researchers, this toolkit moves beyond the “why” of youth voice to the “how”. It provides the practical frameworks needed to treat young people not as subjects to be studied, but as co-researchers with the authority to lead. Link to toolkit

For other YVH recommended resources, go to the www.YoungVoiceHeard.org.uk main website / RESOURCES,  for a summary of what’s on the website.

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