This blog, focused on mental health and wellbeing in Youth Social Action (YSA), is part of a learning series produced as part of the #iwill Fund Impact Evaluation and Learning Contract (IELC). We specifically look at four themes that can better understand how quality principles apply to different aspects of YSA and in different context – these are: mental health and wellbeing, equity and antiracism, youth-led design and accessibility in YSA. It is hoped that by reading this it will raise awareness of mental health among young people taking part in YSA activities, which ultimately helps children and young people to have a thriving future.
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This blog, focused on anti-racist practice in Youth Social Action (YSA), is part of a learning series produced as part of the #iwill Fund Impact Evaluation and Learning Contract (IELC). We specifically look at four themes that can better the quality of YSA practice – these are: mental health and wellbeing, equity and antiracism, youth-led design and accessibility in YSA. It is hoped that by reading this it will raise awareness of anti-racism within YSA activities, which ultimately helps all children and young people to have a thriving future.
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This blog was written by two members of the Young Evaluators Network – Thomas Williams and Irys Chick and contains some of their reflections on how to encourage youth participation in evaluation.
The Young Evaluators Network (YEN) aims to investigate how youth voice practices and disciplines are embedded into the #iwill Fund. The evaluation is conducted by a consortium of organisations - Dartington Service Design Lab, Renaisi-TSIP,YMCA George Williams College, and Ipsos. The work of the YEN is centred around analysing lots of data from #iwill Fund funded projects to better inform youth voice practices, grant-giving, and decision-making processes in the #iwill Fund.
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UK Youth’s Thriving Minds Fund, which spans from 2022-2025, set out to support 99 charities and not-for-profit youth organisations to investigate best practices around mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people. A key ambition of the Fund was to enable and strengthen connection and learning between those working within the youth sector.
As the Learning Partner on the Thriving Minds Fund, we’ve been working with UK Youth and grantees to generate evidence about what enables the sector to work better together and share knowledge around best practices to support young people experiencing mental health challenges.
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For 10 years, Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) has funded and supported more than 20 local services to meet the needs of families through pregnancy and the early years of childhood with the aim of giving thousands of children aged 0-3 a better start in life. Now, a decade on, Dartington Service Design Lab is proud to present this new report, sharing the findings from a comprehensive evaluation of the programme. This report explores how place-based systems change can improve outcomes for children and families.
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With a change in government and one committed to taking a “preventative approach” to social issues, more than ever, Dartington Service Design Lab’s work is needed.
We’ve not only been reflecting on what this change means for children and young people, but by harnessing the evidence and our expertise, we have identified five ways to turn government rhetoric on prevention into reality.
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In 2023, four of the UK’s leading children’s and young people’s cancer charities joined forces with Dartington Service Design Lab to create a shared, evidence-based understanding of what is needed to build a better future for children and young people with cancer. We surveyed more than 1,500 young people with lived experiences to support the findings and help address gaps in the system.
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This year, youth services faced new challenges in engaging young people, particularly young people at risk of becoming involved in violence. As the Learning Partner for the Youth Endowment Fund’s special COVID-19 Grant round, we’ve had the opportunity to understand more about how organisations – ranging from grassroots charities to Britain’s largest local authorities – have managed to adapt programmes to continue to engage young people during the pandemic. In this blog, we look at how working with parents, carers and siblings can help organisations to maintain positive relationships with young people through the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In a time where everything feels unprecedented and many services are in crisis response mode, we ask the question, what should we prioritise under the “new normal” and what can we do to prepare our resources now? Rachel Lily explores…
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