Happy Youth Work Week!

Youth workers and young people from across the Commonwealth are coming together during Youth Work Week 2012 (5-11 November) to showcase the impact of youth work in empowering young people to take an integral role in community development.

Youth Work Week is an annual celebration of youth work, organised by the UK’s National Youth Agency (NYA). This year, for the first time, the NYA has partnered with the Commonwealth Secretariat to make the week a truly international event, bringing together 54 countries across six regions.

In recognition of this partnership, Youth Work Week has adopted the Commonwealth’s 2012 theme, “connecting cultures”, with young people and youth workers from the Commonwealth invited to showcase the role youth work plays in bringing people together.

Director of the Secretariat’s Youth Affairs Division, Katherine Ellis, said: “Youth Work Week is a time to focus on the professionals who give so much of their time and themselves in supporting young people. You truly change young people’s lives and by doing that, you also change the society in which we all live.”

Fiona Blacke, Chief Executive of the NYA, said: “This year, we will not only be celebrating the value of youth work in the United Kingdom, but across the globe – demonstrating that youth work not only spans local, but national and international boundaries.”

The NYA works in partnership with a wide range of UK public, private and voluntary sector organisations to support and improve services for young people. Connecting Cultures celebrates the diversity of the 54-member Commonwealth and recognises the role the association plays in bringing together many different peoples around shared visions and values.

Youth Work Week message 5-11 November 2012

Youth Work Week aims to highlight the role of front line youth workers in supporting young people and communities across the Commonwealth, to foster positive relationships and a sense of belonging.

On 8 November 2012 the Commonwealth Secretariat will host the UK youth Worker Awards event at its headquarters in London. The awards celebrate the impact of individual youth workers working to improve the lives of young people and maintain quality youth services. This year a new ‘Commonwealth award’ will be presented to a youth worker whose efforts went beyond the UK into the Commonwealth.

As part of Youth Work Week, the Commonwealth’s regional youth centres have organised a range of activities focused on celebrating and expanding the profession of youth work.

Materials to support individuals and organisations celebrating Youth Work Week can be found at www.nya.org.uk/youth-work-week-2012

Read more on Youth Work Week here  

Source: theCommonwealth.org