#YourShout: One Million Young People Wanted For UK's Largest Ever Youth Consultation
Did you know? Young people have a say in what's discussed by members of Parliament in their annual House of Commons debate and these issues will then be campaigned on all across the UK. That's a big deal.
If you've been to any of our events lately, or seen us around the streets of Cardiff, you may already recognise the lovely little ballot papers pictured below - you may even have filled one in for us.
Which can only mean one thing - it's time to Make Your Mark!
Yearly, these ballots are released to the local youth forums around Britain by the UK Youth Parliament, meaning young people have a say in what is discussed by members of the Parliament in their annual House of Commons debate. It also decides what issues will be campaigned on across the UK. Basically, this is pretty big stuff, and takes nothing more than a tick, or a click, to complete!
"The largest youth consultation of its kind in the UK"
The scheme is the largest youth consultation of its kind in the UK. Last year, 875,000 11-18 year olds voted, the highest number of young people ever consulted as part of the scheme. But we think we can do even better, this time, and their target is to reach out to, and collect votes from 1,000,000 young people.
Cardiff Youth Council wants to make sure that we share this enthusiasm. Last year, the votes of 2,152 people were collected, a 6.9% turn out for young people in Cardiff. We can do better than that, right!? Especially when it's so ridiculously easy to get involved.
The printed version of the ballot paper - also available online here.
How it works
For those of you who haven't had a chance to fill out a ballot yet, here's how it works - it's super simple! The paper consists of a choice of 10 topics, which the UK Youth Parliament identified as key issues prioritised by young people. You vote for the one that you think is the most important, the one that needs the most focus (only one, one only, such a tricky choice!) When these votes are collated and counted, the top ones will be discussed by the Youth Parliament in the House of Commons, on November 13th as part of Parliament week.
Last year, in Cardiff, the top two topics voted for were Mental health, and Curriculum for life. This was the foundation of the two successful campaigns we have been running in CYC over the last year, which we'd be happy to answer any questions about, and will talk about in further detail in future posts on our blog.
Have Your Say
If you'd like to vote right now, click here. Forward this link to any people, groups or organisations in your network of the right age, and encourage anybody you know to take part - let's hit that target, let's get Cardiff's voice heard.
Thank you to everyone who's taking part - hopefully we'll see you on the 23rd, where our next meeting at city hall will be held, 4:30pm, be there!
Any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch, email us at CYC at maegandaviesjohn@outlook.com, or get in touch on Twitter or Facebook! You can find out much more about Make Your Mark and the UK Youth Parliament here.
Thanks again!
Mae, Fiona and CYC :)
Original article available at: cardiffyouthcouncil.com/2015/09/02/make-your-mark-ballots
TheSprout is about having your say. Yes, it's about sharing your ideas, opinions, news, advice, creative writing, etc, but it's also so much more. It's also about getting your voice heard at the "top table" - interviewing leaders and collecting your opinions through key surveys and ballots. #YourShout #YourSprout
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Image Credit: CYC blog
