The Gathering

THURSDAY 2ND DECEMBER

Young Leaders' reception

We kicked off The Gathering at YouthAction Northern Ireland's Belfast offices with the organisation's AGM.  This was an opportunity for delegates to 'land' at the event and celebrate the connections we have across these islands.

After the AGM we travelled to the US Consul-General's residence, meeting with Rt Hon Conor Burns MP, Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Paul Narain, US Consul-General to Northern Ireland and Phillip Reeker, Chargé d'Affaires to The United Kingdom.

We spoke about the role of the US Government in Northern Ireland and their continued commitment to peace and comradeship across these islands.  It was also great to hear from the UK government and get a strong sense of their vision for how relationships could develop, creating opportunities and prosperity for young people.

Young people going to the reception were really impressed by the event and thought it kicked off the conference in style!

'I loved hearing from Conor, he spoke really well and it was nice to hear a positive message'.

'Conor is very friendly and approachable.  We chatted for a few minutes and he was easy to talk too'.

'I was awesome going along to the reception, I've never been to anything like that before and it felt really important.

5 Nation's Young Leaders Gathering

Friday 3rd December

The Gathering

Back in Summer 2021 when the YouthAction team began to plan The Gathering we felt strongly that the event should encapsulate and reflect the life experience of the delegates attending.

Therefore we decided that our method should be grounded in good youth work practice, creating an interactive and immersive experience for those attending.

With people travelling from across the UK and Ireland it was also key to make sure that the topics and conversations were inclusive and accessible to those not familiar with the context in Northern Ireland.

Informed by our Youth and Adult Advisory Groups we planned to:

- Opt for facilitated group work over guest speakers and keynote addresses.

- Create a choreography for the day that focussed on reflective and provocative conversations over topic-based workshops.

- Place relationships and networking at the heart of the event.

The day itself was split into 5 parts, which are summarised below:

- Gathering

- Giving

- Gaining

- Growing

- Get going

Young people from our Advisory Group loved the method proposed and thought it worked well on the day.

'The name - 'The Gathering', just felt right for now and worked well with what I think we were trying to do'

'I loved the mix of workshops and how it was action focussed at the end'.

'Not having topic based workshops meant that we could talk about what we wanted throughout the day and not just at one stage, it worked well'.

Friday 3rd December

Workshop 1 - Gathering

An important part of The Gathering was the opportunity to those attending to get to know each other better and starting the process of meaningful relationship building.

Two young people from our planning group - Ryan and Angela a discussion using famous lines from The Jungle Book:

'I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who'.

This provided a way for participants to get to know each other through some fun and friendly questions:

- How did you get here today?

- What is your favourite food?

- Why is that?

- Where are you from?

Ryan and Angela had a lot of help from our two students - Joe and Megan and brought the whole session to life with a little team building.

'"Before coming to Belfast I hadn't met any of the other people at the event.  I loved the way they kicked it off as it helped me make some new friends'.

'I really enjoyed the activity at the start and would use that with young people back in Scotland.'



'I felt heard at the event because the workshops were set up to listen'.

Friday 3rd December

Workshop 2 - Giving

When the planning team were thinking about this event one of the key parts of the dicussion was always going to be about celebrating the role and contirbution of young people to our communities.

We invited our nation partners from Youth Scotland, UK Youth, Youth Cymru and Youth Work Ireland to contribute videos and audio recordings of projects that had been going on for them as a way to show how they 'give'.

During the discussions we had inputs from Stewart Bell (Youth Scotland), Matt Parry (Youth Cymru), Deborah Fakeye (Youth Work Ireland), Jo Egan (UK Youth) and Ryan Shaw (YouthAction Northern Ireland).

'"So much amazing work goes under the radar.  It was incredible to see what everyone is doing in their areas and how aligned the projects are!"

"Youth Cymru are doing some great work with the Welsh Youth Parliament, helping give young people a voice and see a future in politics".

"The work that Youth Work Ireland do across jurisdictions in Europe is brilliant.  They bring key issues to decision makers through joining forces with their allies in Germany, Austria and elsewhere.  Great job!"

Friday 3rd December

Workshop 3 - Gaining

As young leaders it is important to consider how the opportunities we have can contribute to our personal development journey.

Our 3rd workshop during the day was our Human Library. 

The formula is based on creating conversations between books and readers.  Through providing space for people to tell their stories to smaller groups it can generate deep and meaningful experiences for everyone.

Some of the books included people from the world of politics, art, music, business and human rights. 

Delegates had time to read 2 books during the session after lunch.

"Our book really helped us think about immigrating to Northern Ireland and some of the difficulties people can have.  Getting the opportunity to listen and ask questions was great."

"We had an amazing conversation with our book - it actually got pretty emotional!"

"I've never used this method before with young people but it's definitely something I will use again in the future."

Friday 3rd December

Workshop 4 - Growing

One of the core tenets of good youth work practice is reflecting on our practice and the development of young people.

Over the last 18 months however it has been difficult to maintain important self-care habits, harder still to find time to spend with colleagues to help them reflect on their own work.

We wanted then to spend a little time using a coaching framework which was both practical and accessible for youth workers to use in the future.

For many it was the first time they had used these techniques with colleagues so we tried to keep it quite simple and straightforward.

Participants were invited to use WHAT questions to challenge limiting beliefs, encourage their partner to see another perspective and raise awareness of unproductive thoughts and feelings.

"This was a brilliant session!  I sometimes get a defensive response from colleagues when I use a lot of WHY questions.  I'll be doing it differently in the future."

"For a lot of young people their hopes for the future can be quite limited or in some cases non-existent.  These methods are a great way to help them think about their goals."