UK Youth and Volunteering Matters – Next steps for #iwill Partnership and movement

In February, UK charities Volunteering Matters and UK Youth formed a consortium to support the delivery of the #iwill Partnership and movement. Together, we will broaden the goals of #iwill with a greater focus on reaching and supporting young people from low-income and ethnic minority backgrounds to take part in social action activities, as well as increasing the leadership of young people across all levels of #iwill.

By late February, Step Up To Serve had handed over the responsibility for leading and convening the #iwill Partnership and movement to the consortium, along with seven years of organisational knowledge. It has been an intense six weeks of work, but the handover will enable us to build upon a phenomenal legacy of empowering young people to take social action.

We’re now working together to complete project set up, secure additional funding, and engage fully with #iwill Ambassadors, Co-Chairs and Partners to develop the key objectives for the next phase of the campaign. And we’re recruiting for a handful of key roles that will ensure dedicated resource to enable this work.

We’re making good progress. From now until June we’ll be working behind the scenes putting all these in place so that we can build on the success of the campaign so far and move into a new phase for #iwill. However, this does mean that while things are being put in place, some of our external communications may be less than what you are used to, and we thank you for your understanding as we work through the next couple of months and shape the next phase of #iwill.

Looking ahead, UK Youth will lead on convening and developing the #iwill Ambassador and Champion Network programme. UK Youth will also lead on the strategic oversight and delivery of evidence and insights of the #iwill campaign. This includes the collection, analysis and reporting of evidence and insight against each of the #iWill impact goals, such as the National Youth Social Action Survey and new Power of Youth Index. UK Youth will be commissioning the Centre for Youth Impact as the technical delivery partner for this work to outline the plans for this work and the approach we will take.

Volunteering Matters will lead communications, which will include supporting organisations to adapt and deliver the Power of Youth Charter, coordinate #iwillWeek and #PowerOfYouthDay, coordinate lobbying efforts, and work with Ambassadors and Partners to amplify the voices of young people and showcase the difference they can and want to make through social action. 

Paul Reddish, CEO of Volunteering Matters, said, ‘We’re so excited to be working with UK Youth, #iwill Ambassadors, Co-Chairs and Partners. The next few months will be key as the teams put in the foundations for the next phase of the campaign, helping ensure that together we create a movement that enables more young people to make long lasting change through social action.’ 

Ndidi Okezie, CEO of UK Youth, said, ‘I am proud that UK Youth are working with Volunteering Matters, #iwill Ambassadors, Co-Chairs and Partners to broaden the goals of #iwill and build on the legacy created by Step Up To Serve. We know that young people are committed to creating powerful change through social action and I am excited that together we will support and champion young people to lead this work.’