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People Matters Network’s community engagement platforms (Together) have recently been hailed as good practice by the Welsh Government in a paper produced by their Children, Young People and Families department.
The document highlights all the good practice being undertaken across Wales to encourage young people to have a voice and an opportunity to participate and share their opinions.
The Together platform, currently being implemented across 5 local authorities in Wales (Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly and Wrexham) gives organisations a means by which to share thoughts, generate discussions, gather opinions and collate resources with members of the public and stakeholders.
The document was produced in partnership with each local authorities Young People Participation Team and was published in May 2015 following extensive research into how each local authority engages with young people and encourages participation of young people.
The document is split into each of the Welsh Government’s participation standards for young people. Under the standard for “It is really important that children and young people know what difference they have made and how their ideas have been used.”
The document highlights that RCT have utilised the Hub to enable residents to be able to keep up to date with current changes to services and have their say. The document highlights RCT’s best practice and their development of a young persons version of the HUB in the following statement:
“There is an on-line consultation hub which includes a system for feedback, twitter, library of best practice/evaluation….” And goes on to say that “….They are currently developing a young person’s version with young people.”
Chris Davies, Consultation and Research Manager at Rhondda Cynon Taf Council is proud of the achievements that the hub has enabled the council to accomplish hopes that the development of the young persons hub will help increase the young people’s voice:
“Through the money that was available through European funding, we put together a project that worked with all our partners across the Cwm Taf region including RCT Council, Merthyr Tydfil Council, South Wales Police, Cwm Taf University Health Board and the voluntary sector (represented by Voluntary Action Merthyr Tydfil and Interlink RCT). The project funded the development of the Cwm Taf Engagement Hub to enable all our partners to engage with the public and so that the public had one place they could visit to have their say on all things going on across Cwm Taf.”
“The hub has enabled us to reach out to parts of the community we normally wouldn’t hear from and given us an opportunity to work with our partners in a way that is both money saving and more efficient.”
Mr. Davies went on to say “By having a greater online presence we are hoping to work more closely with young people and ensure that the services we deliver and fit for the needs of young people and the wider community itself, the hub will enable us a wider approach to engagement and collaborative working.”
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