24 years of recognising the achievements of young people through youth work with another 6,000 awards achieved in the year 2021-22.
As Scotland’s community-based youth work pushes forward with the post-pandemic recovery, Youth Scotland has been enjoying a cautious return to in-person events with young people. One of these was the recent Reach 4 event in Glasgow, where young people came together to enjoy a fantastic programme of activities, workshops, food, entertainment and even a silent disco!
Adapting to the lockdowns and subsequent recovery has meant that our youth awards have adopted a blended model – with young people accessing at home, online and occasionally outside, when permitted. The flexibility of the awards has meant that young people have adapted with creative challenges and activities, not letting lockdowns get in the way of youth work or learning. The last year has seen restrictions easing and we were delighted to pass a fantastic 6,000 Youth Scotland Awards for the year while at an in-person event in Glasgow.
Generation CashBack is all about providing better opportunities to Scotland’s young people, particularly in areas needing the greatest support. During Reach 4 Glasgow, the fourth of a series of youth-led and co-designed events for young people, participants enjoyed the opportunities of the day while having their achievements recognised by a Hi5 Award.
The Hi5 Award is an exciting award for young people that records and recognises wider achievement. The Hi5 Award has been credit rated and levelled by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF).
After finishing the packed day of activities, participants added their inputs, peer-reviewed and then handed in their challenge sheets. Olivia (pictured) can be seen handing in what we made to be award number 6,013 for the year!
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About Youth Scotland:
We are the largest national youth work organisation in Scotland, supporting 75,000 young people, 1,600 youth groups and over 8,800 youth workers. Youth Scotland has been around since the early 20th century and has a diverse membership network – from small rural youth groups to large urban projects. The common goal that we all share is better outcomes for young people.
Our membership network is made up of local youth groups of all sizes, Area Associations and Youth Scotland staff who can provide support and training on a range of youth work topics. We are proud of the varied, universal youth work our network delivers and the innovative solutions our members create in an ever-changing youth work landscape.
About Generation Cashback and the consortium:
Generation CashBack is delivered by a partnership consortium of four of the largest volunteer-led youth work organisations in Scotland, comprising of: Scouts Scotland, Girlguiding Scotland, The Boys’ Brigade Scotland, and Youth Scotland. It centres around two main strands of project delivery (‘Grow’ and ‘Lead’) that aim to grow youth group membership and increase engagement in disadvantaged communities.
The current phase of Generation CashBack runs from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2023 and has been supporting the Scottish Government’s aim to tackle inequalities by having a greater focus on young people from areas of deprivation and other disadvantaged young people. As part of the Scottish Government’s CashBack for Communities programme, phase 5 of Generation CashBack will receive £1.7mil funding across the consortium, over 3 years.
In year 1 of phase 5, Generation CashBack supported 2,781 young people, 79% of whom were from SIMD 1 – 3. 99% of young people reported that Generation CashBack had a positive impact on their behaviour, and 98% reported improvement in their wellbeing against SHANARRI indicators.