Community groups, young people and practitioners came together at this shared learning event to showcase the learning from a life-changing programme to empower children and young people in Northern Ireland.
Empowering Young People and its associated support network, LINKS, both closed in 2024 after almost ten years of supporting projects that have given young people in the region the opportunity to develop skills to cope with difficult times in their lives.
Practitioners and young people shared how the Empowering Young People programme has supported them to overcome the challenges that they faced and what they have learnt at a celebration and shared learning event in Belfast on 17 September 2024.
Empowering Young People – Learning from the Community & Voluntary Sector covered themes such as mental health and wellbeing, community engagement, supporting LGBTQIA+ people and supporting young people with additional needs. The presentations from the event can be found below.
Empowering Young People was launched in 2015 by The National Lottery Community Fund’s Northern Ireland directorate. To date, the Fund has awarded £65.5 million from the programme to 155 projects, supporting nearly 100,000 children and young people across Northern Ireland to get the skills they need for their future; to have better relationships with their support networks and communities; and to have good health and wellbeing.
The LINKS support network was facilitated by the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) and delivered to all of the organisations grant aided under the Empowering Young People programme, enhancing practice and encouraging the involvement of young people in all aspects of the projects.
Watch a video we made of the event, which features some of the speakers sharing their views on the impact of the Empowering Young People and LINKS support programmes and the NCB LINKS internship: