Shift

Welcome to our new series, which focuses on the shift amongst youth organisations and funders towards sharing power with young people, drawing on our work with The Listening Fund which aims to make the youth sector more accountable to young people.In this episode we explain why we’ve made this podcast, give an overview of what we’ve learned about why and how organisations are involving young people in their work - with clips from some of the brilliant guests you’ll hear from in the following six episodes.The co-hosts for this series are Mercy Shibemba, a young grantmaker and activist, and Jenny Ross from Collective Discovery.You can find all of the Listening Fund’s resources, including blogs and practice papers on a range of topics here. You can also follow the Listening Fund on X @listeningfund.A series overview, more information on our guests, and additional resources on each topic can be found in the shownotes. For more on Collective Discovery, see our website and LinkedIn. We also welcome any feedback you have: please get in touch with us at collective@collectivediscovery.co.uk.

Youth organisations often work in partnership with young people to design their programmes and services - this is sometimes called co-production. In this episode we’ll hear about the benefits and challenges of co-production and how three organisations have sought to embed the approach in their work and organisational culture.  We spoke to:Alex Mckell, Head of innovation and trainer at Leap Confronting ConflictKate Russell, Head of Programmes and Network at the Foyer FederationGemma Rowan, co-Artistic Director of Sounds Like Chaos.This episode is part of our first series which builds on Collective Discovery’s work as Learning Partner of the Listening Fund. You can find all of the Listening Fund’s resources, including blogs and practice papers on a range of topics here. You can also follow the Fund on X @listeningfund.A series overview, more information on our guests, and additional resources on each topic can be found in the shownotes. For more on Collective Discovery, see our website or LinkedIn. We also welcome any feedback you have: please get in touch with us at collective@collectivediscovery.co.uk.

One of the ways youth organisations can ensure that their work is aligned with the priorities of young people is to actively involve them in their learning and evaluation processes - to ensure that their feedback informs the way their programmes and services are adapted. We spoke to: Dave Close, Director of Hot Chocolate Trust Jeni Stephens, Youth Work Manager at Carefree CornwallSarah Rose, a Social Purpose Consultant and part of the Collective Discovery teamKate Russell, Head of Programmes and Network at the Foyer FederationThis episode is part of our first series which builds on Collective Discovery’s work as Learning Partner of the Listening Fund. You can find all of the Listening Fund’s resources, including blogs and practice papers on a range of topics here. You can also follow the Fund on X @listeningfund.A series overview, more information on our guests, and additional resources on each topic can be found in the shownotes. For more on Collective Discovery, see our website or LinkedIn. We also welcome any feedback you have: please get in touch with us at collective@collectivediscovery.co.uk.

One of the ways youth organisations work in a consistent way with young people is by creating specific roles for them. In this episode, we will hear from three organisations that have involved young people in their work by creating different kinds of leadership and ambassador roles. We spoke to:Mark Powell, Artistic Director at Prime TheatreVicki Felgate, Co-Founder of Big Leaf Foundation. Luwam, Youth Ambassador for Kent Refugee Action Network. This episode is part of our first series which builds on Collective Discovery’s work as Learning Partner of the Listening Fund. You can find all of the Listening Fund’s resources, including blogs and practice papers on a range of topics here. You can also follow the Fund on X @listeningfund.A series overview, more information on our guests, and additional resources on each topic can be found in the shownotes. For more on Collective Discovery, see our website or LinkedIn. We also welcome any feedback you have: please get in touch with us at collective@collectivediscovery.co.uk.

One of the ways that youth organisations work in a more consistent way with young people is to create structures for engagement and/or sharing power. In this episode, we will hear from four organisations that have created different kinds of structures to enable them to involve young people more actively in their work. We spoke to:Cecilia Cappel, Participation and Engagement Manager at Spark InsideKerry Hunter, NNDYC Co-ordinator and Neurodiversity Specialist and Teacher who supported the National Neurodiverse Youth Council Italia Jenson (or Talie), Head of Youth Engagement at The MixEugene Hilton, Community and Content manager at We Don't SettleThis episode is part of our first series which builds on Collective Discovery’s work as Learning Partner of the Listening Fund. You can find all of the Listening Fund’s resources, including blogs and practice papers on a range of topics here. You can also follow the Fund on X @listeningfund.A series overview, more information on our guests, and additional resources on each topic can be found in the shownotes. For more on Collective Discovery, see our website or LinkedIn. We also welcome any feedback you have: please get in touch with us at collective@collectivediscovery.co.uk.

One of the ways that youth organisations and funders can involve young people in their work is to invite them to be part of their governance structure and become a trustee. In this episode we will hear about the role of young trustees from a range of perspectives.We spoke to:Natasha Johnson, a Blagrave Trust Young Advisor and board member of the British Youth Council.Segun Olowooke, Chair of the Blagrave Trust BoardClare Hill-Dixon, CEO of the Young Trustees Movement.And Eli Manderson Evans, CEO of the Blagrave Trust.This episode is part of our first series, looking at the work Collective Discovery is doing as Learning Partner of the Listening Fund. You can find all of the Listening Fund’s resources, including blogs and practice papers on a range of topics here. You can also follow the Fund on X @listeningfund.A series overview, more information on our guests, and additional resources on each topic can be found in the shownotes. For more on Collective Discovery, see our website or LinkedIn. We also welcome any feedback you have: please get in touch with us at collective@collectivediscovery.co.uk.