by Author Music for Good

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Voltage Programme: Youth Empowerment, Youth Leadership and Peer Mentoring

The Youth Music Voltage programme was a natural place to encourage youth empowerment and leadership.

This page is part of a resource collection for practical guidance around providing volunteering opportunities.

 

Through volunteering, young people are supported to develop a range of skills, particularly leadership

Some of the volunteering roles within the Voltage programme – ‘associate young ambassadors’ – were identified as Peer Mentors, to actively support and sometimes lead other volunteers. Click here to see 'job descriptions' for the Associate Young Ambassador volunteers (AYAs) and Young Ambassadors volunteers (YAs) for Voltage. Working closely with a small number of young people enables relationships to develop, especially working with them as volunteers as opposed to workshop participants.

Each of the organisations running the Voltage programme reported gaining a deeper understanding of young people’s needs and interests, and they were able to bring the voice of young people much more into the heart of their organisation and focus on the development of a number of leadership skills amongst volunteers, offering specific support and training.

Some key tips for enabling youth empowerment, leadership and peer mentoring are:

  • Listen and respond to young people’s needs and interests to be able to support them effectively
  • Track and reflect on individual journeys, as this helps to build trust, confidence and self esteem (if a young person can acknowledge and understand their achievements it leads to increased confidence and self awareness)
  • Provide positive roles models (generally, older young people and other professionals)
  • Strike a balance between allowing youth leadership to flourish and stepping in to help (sometimes allowing young people space to make mistakes is the best place to learn as long as it is supported and reflected on afterwards)

Some examples from organisations running the Voltage programme:

Streetvibes examples of first event when they didn’t have a clear concept of the budget and were unrealistic...

“Young people have always engaged with the Hive (New Roots, in Shropshire) on a voluntary basis. As part of our grant programme we consult with the young people from the onset of their involvement to ensure that they understand what the post as a volunteer involves. We are able to tailor their volunteer experience, giving them ownership over their volunteering period at the Hive... An example of this is a young volunteer who has an interest in drumming and a talent for stage lighting. He has been able to shadow on some Taiko drumming workshops and develop his skill for lighting by rigging the lights for the live music night, held at the Hive and organised by the voltage volunteers for other young people.”

CYMAZ, in Cornwall, has worked with two teams of volunteers in two different settings. In both places there was one volunteer who emerged as a natural leader (the AYA) and helped to motivate the others in the group as well as recruit further young people to the group. In Helston Youth Centre, one of the volunteers has gone on to become a representative on the UK Youth Parliament and is actively involved in the youth centre and his local community.  Working together to create radio shows has proved to be an effective way of encouraging support and team working, especially when people emerged with strengths in different areas (researching, producing or presenting). The group from the Foyer (a supported housing programme) went to the Cornwall Volunteer Awards Ceremony and created a podcast which celebrated one of the Foyer residents being named as volunteer of the year! The Taster Volunteering opportunities involved a group of Looked After Children who created a radio podcast all about issues for Looked After Children which they directed, produced and performed themselves. Peer mentors supported other young people to express their views. The supportive and nurturing environment empowered everyone to take on a role.”

Here is the podcast that they created for other young people in care:

CYMAZ, Carefree & Voice For Us Podcast for the Voltage project

 

“At The Sage Gateshead we have learnt the benefits of having the volunteers form a cohort that regularly meets. In this supportive environment the volunteers have been able to discuss their experiences, their skills, the challenges, set their personal aims and objectives, and provide peer support.  Each volunteer has had a good understanding of the others abilities and learning needs.  In this way they have been able to sympathetically divide up work when it comes to the collaborative planning of an event or writing of a piece of music. A good example of this would be when they are music-making together as part of their weekly session. There is a wide range of musical ability within the group, with some volunteers having much less confidence than others.  The volunteers organise themselves into groups to write lyrics on their volunteering experiences and always ensure that those with less confidence are paired with a Young Ambassador or Associate Young Ambassador who has the skills to encourage and support their expression.  This peer support has been a key factor in the development of the volunteer’s skills and the Sage Gateshead understands that the Voltage volunteers have developed their skills much further because of it.”