UK Youth Parliament

This page gives further details about UK Youth Parliament (UKYP), an organisation funded through the Partnership Grants Scheme.
UKYP works nationally supporting young people to use their voice in creative ways to bring about social change. They hold UKYP elections, where young people are elected as members of youth parliament (MYPs). Once elected MYPs work with their MPs, councillors, schools, youth councils, and peer group members on the issues of greatest concern to their constituents.

visit UK Youth Parliament's website at www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk

UK Youth Parliament Engage project

The project increased understanding of the importance of voting amongst young people, and educated its beneficiaries about democratic structures and institutions across the UK. The project provided training to Local Authority workers in youth services across the UK to enable them to deliver workshops to young people outside formal education in their local areas. Our grant funded salaries, production of a DVD and workshop pack, volunteers expenses and venue hire.

Project outcomes

fifty percent of young people not in formal education accessing the workshops will register to vote

young people not in formal education accessing the project will learn the value of voting, democratic structures from local to European level, how to engage locally, who their elected representatives are and how to engage with them as well as more about UK Youth Parliament

one hundred and fifty Local Authority Democracy and Participation Workers will be provided with the tools to engage young people not in formal education of democracy

society will be made more aware of why young people do not engage with the political process through the project evaluation report

Outcomes achieved

A project advisory group consisting of young people was set up to ensure that the project was youth led. This enabled young people to become involved in both project planning and delivery. The project delivered workshops to 3,400 young people. Feedback from participants indicated that they had developed an understanding of democratic structures and the value of voting.

Case study

UKYP

Lisa found out about the project through a friend, and immediately wanted to become involved. She became a member of the steering group, and helped plan and deliver the workshops. She has stated that since becoming involved in the project she has found her self confidence has grown, and that she is now able to get the message about voting across to young people that are not aware of the importance of being on the electoral register and using their vote.