Youth participation in Aberdeenshire puts children and young people in the centre of policy and practice. We do this by creating and supporting ways in which children and young people can get involved in decision-making, at the individual, community, local authority, and national level.
Aberdeenshire’s Youth Participation Structure includes all the different groups below:
Aberdeenshire Youth Forum (AYF)
Aberdeenshire Youth Forum is a group of young people from all around Aberdeenshire that come together to express their views and opinions on matters that affect them, collectively plan to influence decision makers and effect change in their communities. AYF is an inclusive group and encourages involvement of all young people between the age of 12-26 years living in Aberdeenshire, including individual young people and representatives from youth participation groups. This group is facilitated by the AYC and supported by CLD Staff.
For more information please contact: cld@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
Pupil Participation Forum (PPF)
Aberdeenshire’s Pupil Participation Forum is a youth-led group of 68 young people from seventeen secondary schools across Aberdeenshire. They meet regularly to discuss issues related to their schools, create events and resources and are often consulted on policies and matters related to schools and Education.
PPF Values
- We want to make things better and have a credible role in schools and society.
- We want to promote a positive image of young people and what they can achieve.
PPF Motto: “Let your voice be heard and your actions seen”
Last school session working largely online they developed a guide to support schools in using pronouns. This year their focus areas are “The Stigma of Poverty” and “Cultural Diversity”.
For more information please contact: christine.mclennan@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
Aberdeenshire Young People’s Organising and Campaigning Group (YPOC)
Aberdeenshire YPOC is a campaigning group of care experienced young people who meet monthly at Inverurie Family Centre. Using their own experiences, the group work to make things better for other young people who are care experienced. The Children’s Rights Team and Who Cares? Team support the group to think about and explore what’s important to them and what they want to change.
Their latest campaign is about stigma and challenging this – stigma is feeling judged and feeling others are treating you differently because you are in care.
For more information please contact: laura.stewart4@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
Police Scotland Young Volunteers (PSYV)
PSYV is a uniformed youth organisation which develops positive interaction between the police, young people, and the rest of the community. Youth Volunteers are aged 13 – 18 years old and take part in an extensive training and education programme. The aim of the programme is to develop the key skills of self-confidence, communication, team working and leadership. PSYV North Aberdeenshire are based at Fraserburgh and have 18 Young People and 7 Adult Volunteers.
For more information: https://www.scotland.police.uk/recruitment/police-scotland-youth-volunteers/
Local Youth Platforms
Local Youth Platforms are supported by local CLD staff, in each of the 17 areas of Aberdeenshire, with the aim to provide young people with opportunities to come together to discuss, explore and address the issues that matter to them in their local community.
For more information please contact: cld@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
Aberdeenshire Members of Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs)
The Scottish Youth Parliament empowers young people by truly involving them in the decision making process. MSYP’s are elected young people aged between 14- 25 who represent different areas and voluntary organisations from across the whole of Scotland. Every year they have at least 3 national meetings where they discuss issues which affect young people and try to propose new and sometimes radical solutions to these problems. Aberdeenshire has 7 MSYP’s who attend the national sitting and are involved in numerous local and regional projects. CLD offer local support to MSYP’s so they can share and network between themselves and work collectively on issues and campaigns that affect young people in their areas.
For more information : https://syp.org.uk/ contact: cld@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
The Northern Alliance Youth Advisory Group
The Youth Advisory Group is a new forum of young people who meet to represent and express the voice and participation of young people in the Northern Alliance Regional Improvement Collaborative. We have 2 young people in Aberdeenshire who are part of this group.
For more information please contact: cld@aberdeenshire.gov.uk