#iwill Power of Youth Charter – our commitment to young people  

May 25, 2021

We have seen many young people making an incredible difference to their communities and the environment through our youth programmes.

But for too many young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, their voices are excluded and their power to make a positive difference isn’t recognised.

By empowering young people, today, we can build a better tomorrow. That’s why we’ve signed the #iwill Power of Youth Charter – putting young people at the heart of what we do.

What is the Power of Youth Charter?

The Power of Youth Charter enables us to make a public commitment to empower more young people to shape decisions, take social action and make a positive difference.

It’s time to act

The Power of Youth Charter is not just a list of commitments, it’s about the meaningful actions we’re taking to support young people.

Through our existing youth projects and networks we will continue to create opportunities for young people from diverse backgrounds to be positive changemakers. The opportunities we provide are wide-ranging – from Green Guardians activities to our Youth Environment Forum, Environmental Apprenticeships and our new Green Influencers programme.

As an organisation we will open up our decision-making to young people. We aim to recruit at least one young person to join the YDMT Board of Trustees and have youth representation on our other decision making panels. We will make it easy for young people to contribute to our board meetings. And we will also continue our Young Ambassador programme.

By continuing to work closely with other organisations – schools, colleges and youth groups – we’ll reach more young people, providing the best experiences and exploring new opportunities.

We will also shout about the incredible young people we work with – sharing their positive stories and recognising their contribution across all our communications and events – that includes an annual Youth Social Media takeover, Youth Summit and supporter events.

The Power of Youth Charter means we’re accountable to young people, and we’ll be sharing our progress towards our Charter commitments with #iwill and with you every year…watch this space!