Young people leading the way in research
Peer-led research and education projects have the potential to make a big impression in Wales.
Shelter Cymru is currently running two such projects, bringing together different strands of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Young People and Housing programme of work which focuses on improving the housing options available to 16-30 year olds in the UK.
The first of these centers on the development of the Young Person’s Welsh Charter for Change on Housing. A group of ten young researchers (Core Group Cymru) are carrying out interviews and focus groups with other young people, with the aim of gathering ideas and suggestions for change. These will be collated and analysed and a set of recommendations, in the form of a Charter, will be published later this year and promoted to relevant stakeholders and key decision makers across Wales.
The involvement of young people in devising questionnaires and carrying out face-to-face research with their peers is vital to the success of this project. It is too easy for older people to assume that we know what young people want, what they think and what their aspirations are, but project coordinators have reported surprise at the directions some of the young people have taken in their research.
The Welsh Charter will also link into a UK Charter to underline common themes in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The project has enabled Core Group Cymru members to develop skills and gain new experiences, including an opportunity to direct and star in their own film. Go to Shelter Cymru’s You Tube page to see their cinematic debut, which includes an insight into the Deputy Minister for Housing’s experience of leaving home for the first time.
The second project is a ‘crystal ball’ exercise, focusing on longer-term policy challenges and solutions for the housing sector. The aim is to determine the profile of the housing system in 2020 and how young people’s current and future housing aspirations will fit in with these scenarios.
We are working with a broad range of stakeholders to identify the main drivers for change over the next ten years and what the implications of these changes are likely to be.
A key part of the project involves young researchers from a range of backgrounds carrying out interviews with their peers across the UK about their housing experiences and aspirations. This groundwork will enable researchers to make informed predictions about the relevance of young people’s housing pathways in 2020, to identify the winners and losers of the 2020 housing system, and develop policy solutions to meet these anticipated challenges.
For more information on the Charter, please contact rhianjones@sheltercymru.org.uk or call 01792 483 002. Visit www.youngpeoplemovingon.org.uk to read Core Group Cymru members’ contributions to the blog site.
For more information about the solutions for 2020 project, please contact kellyb@sheltercymru.org.uk or call 02920 556 120. Visit www.jrf.org.uk to find out more about The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s young people and housing programme of work.
To find out more about Shelter Cymru’s other current peer-led research and education projects, visit www.sheltercymru.org.uk