This page gives more information about Area 43, an organisation awarded £136,993 over three years in 2006/07 by the Partnership Grants Fund.
Cardigan Youth Project (working name Area 43) is a registered charity started in 1996 by local people who realised that disaffected young people needed a daytime support service that offered more than the only local evening youth club. Enabling young people to participate fully in society is built into the constitution of Area 43, which is a daytime youth project specifically for young people not in formal education.
- visit Area 43's website at www.area43.co.uk
Choice Matters
The Choice Matters project undertook participation work with young people not in formal education, aged 16-25 in the counties of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. The participation work involved both confidence raising and increasing understanding of the democratic structures that are in place and how they affected these young people in their every day lives. As part of the project, Area 43 used their mobile unit to reach young people in areas such as shopping malls, villages and town centres.
Project outcomes
- that 60% of participants will have an increased awareness of how democracy is organised and how decisions are made
- that 40% of participants will have an increased likelihood to vote
Outcomes achieved
The project was successfully delivered over three years and far exceeded the outcome targets set. The key development of the project was the outreach programme which proved to be an efficient way of reaching large numbers of young people not in formal education. The Choice Matters project increased awareness of democracy for 3,484 young people through its outreach work in both highly populated Welsh towns and rurally isolated communities. The project increased the confidence of 453 participants through its intensive on-site workshops, as well as distributing 2,910 registration forms to its target audience, increasing the likelihood of Welsh young people registering to vote.
Case study
Geraint is 20 years old, unemployed and failed to achieve any result in mainstream school. Although he has tried to participate in elementary Further Education college courses, he has a range of difficulties around learning which have caused barriers to his academic development. He was placed with his younger brother under a care order by social services at the age of 10, and now lives independently with his younger brother. Geraint attended Area 43’s peer educator training course in order to learn more about politics. Taking part in this project has enabled Geraint to have much more confidence in himself as previously he was too shy to talk to people that he did not know. There has been a dramatic change in his level of confidence and he now feels able to approach people he does not know well. He said 'I feel more confident to go out and vote' and 'I now see the importance of voting'.
