Political Youth Wings

Following discussions with representatives of political youth wings in 2000, proposals emerged for a series of cross-border seminars comparing human rights legislation and practice in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. These seminars were supported with funding from the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, the Community Relations Council, and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. They were very successful, and led to the development of our Political Youth Wings conference programme, that includes both North-South and Inter-Isles (UK & RoI) events, held in all five jurisdictions. The programme is partly funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Department for Constitutional Affairs, and Gordon Cooke.



Our aim in working with young party members is to provide them with opportunities to engage with each other around issues of common concern, and to encourage them to contribute to policy development within their own parties.



The young people have very much determined how the programme has developed, opting for a more active approach to the traditional conference format, with local study visits and group work. They decide in advance on conference themes, and to date, themes have included: inter-regional cooperation; interface conflict; anti-poverty strategies; European integration; racism; the ‘War on Terror’ & civil liberties; and climate change.

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Relevant Links:

Click to view evaluation from summer 2005's conference
Click to view enquiry form
Click to view all other Links