This month Khulisa hosted young people from the NCS to gain insight on youth empowerment, our Fundraising Assistant, Alexandra Bamgboye reflects on the event…
Khulisa embarked on a new partnership by collaborating with the National Citizens Service (NCS) to gain better understanding of the young people we aim to empower. NCS is a voluntary personal and social development programme for 15–17 year olds in England and Northern Ireland so this was a unique opportunity for Khulisa to work with young people and benefit from their ideas about how we can innovate the way we work.
The session began with a taster session led by our Head of Delivery, Damian Castello, who took NCS participants through a snapshot of our flagship behavioural reduction programme, Silence The Violence (STV). This was a chance to educate participants on their own behaviours and to create a level of self-awareness about their own actions and perceptions of violence. The next step was to present the ‘Khulisa Challenge’ so in a ‘Dragons Den’ format we tasked NCS participants to develop three ways Khulisa could empower young people beyond what we currently implement within the organisation.
The passion behind the innovation demonstrated that young people do have a voice and are not afraid to use it. It was amazing to see the original ideas the young people presented and Khulisa will work to bring some of these ideas to life. Watch this space!
This experience reiterated the importance of collaboration within the sector, and the mutually beneficial results it can produce. Khulisa received inventive ideas and advice about how to engage people, and connect with their current day experiences. On the other hand the young people also expressed how useful it was to look through the ‘Khulisa lens’ and self reflect on their emotional and social capacity and how they can engage more positively into their communities. Demonstrating the value in cross sector partnerships.
