In the run up to the 2023 Scottish Rural & Islands Parliament (SRIP), a number of organisations that support the mobilisation and participation of rural young people, including the network of Community-Led Local Development Youth Local Action Groups (CLLD Y-LAGs), the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs (SAYFC), InspirAlba, Connecting Young Carers and the Young Islanders Network collaborated to deliver the first ever Scottish Rural & Islands Youth Parliament (SRIYP).
The SRIP and SRIYP are participative democratic assemblies – they are open to all, and people do not need to be elected to take part. Youth participants came together at the SRIYP from communities across Scotland and collectively identified a set of priorities which they communicated to Rural Affairs & Islands Cabinet Secretary Mairi Gougeon MSP. In July 2024, funding was secured from the Scottish Government to consolidate momentum behind a collective rural youth action network in Scotland, building on learning from the Young Islanders Network, and to enable young people to progress the priorities they identified at the SRIYP.
The word ‘consolidate’ came from the young people themselves who were involved in the SRIYP and in shaping the funding proposal. They felt strongly that the project needs to move slowly, at their own pace. They also emphasised that the project must bring with it the organisations that will support it and contribute to it. To ensure this happens, two posts have been created, one sitting with our partners Youth Scotland (YS) and one within Scottish Rural Action. The Youth Scotland postholder will work with the young people themselves to codesign the rural youth action network. The Scottish Rural Action post will focus on connecting with youth organisations, especially the CLLD Youth Local Action Groups, in order to help build their capacity to contribute to this project. It is anticipated that recruitment will complete in September 2024.
In the meantime, we are working with the CLLD Y-LAGs to celebrate the United Nations International Day of Youth on 12th August 2024. At the heart of these celebrations is a short fiilm about their programme....check out some of the stills below and please take the oppotunity to watch it!
