Month: May 2022

Summer is coming! Time for adventure on the high seas!

So walk your sea legs up our gangplank and jump aboard Challenge Wales for a life-changing experience!

Challenge Wales has scheduled a number of exciting Residential Voyages for young people – please see this poster, and check out our website.

Please note: The given cost is the maximum amount – depending upon eligibility, with our additional bursaries the cost can be GREATLY REDUCED to DOUBLE FIGURES: possibly to just £50, or even £25 per place!!

And to all Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award participants: this opportunity can be your Residential Section activity!

So if you know any young people who may be interested, please contact us asap and make this a summer to remember.
We look forward to welcoming you all aboard.

 

Challenge Wales Bursary Scheme Open For 14 – 25 year olds

Challenge Wales, the youth development charity which takes young people to sea is on the hunt for partner organisations and young people to tap into their bursary scheme.

Those who have previously jumped onboard one of Challenge Wales’ vessels; Challenge Wales| Wales’ Tall Ship or Adventure Wales have benefited from improved mental health, have improved teamwork and communication skills, have learnt about ocean literacy, taken part in citizen science activities, achieved their Gold DofE Residential, have learnt sailing skills, developed confidence and made new friends. Some past beneficiaries of the Challenge Wales bursary scheme have moved into work from unemployment, improved their employability prospects and had a life-changing experience. And, most of this has been made possible through the Challenge Wales bursary scheme which contributes towards the cost of the voyages.

With voyages lasting from 1 day to 7 days, the Challenge Wales bursary scheme will automatically guarantee a bursary to cover a minimum of 50% of the costs. However, for those that require more financial support then additional bursary support can often cover the majority of the voyage costs to ensure that Challenge Wales opportunities are as accessible as possible. While onboard the Challenge Wales boats, young people will learn how to run the boat, learn some sailing skills, take part in wildlife watching while being part of a team and having lots of fun – and no sailing experience is necessary to take part. And with many voyages offering Agored Cymru accreditation, and for longer voyages the newly launched John Muir Award or Gold DofE Residential, there are plenty of opportunities to join a Challenge Wales voyage and put something on your CV.

As outdoor activities, and in particular being at sea in ‘blue space’ offer significant benefits to young people, the charity is looking for partners who would want to tap into the bursary scheme, or for individuals to jump onboard while the bursary is still available during summer and autumn of 2022.

For further details contact: reservations@challengewales.org or call 029 20 704657 and speak to Laura or Kerry.

You can also find Challenge Wales on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Just search for @ChallengeWales

 

Here you can find a message from our lovely Membership and Business Support Officer Mandi;

Good afternoon to you all – our incredible and extremely valued members.

It’s been a really crazy time and we fully acknowledge that with everything that’s happened, you have been impacted in some way or another.

So as part of my role, and our recently launched business project (see brochure here), we would like to ask you just a few basic questions that would elicit important and useful information to determine any support needs.

*We recommend you have discussions with colleagues and service users to get their comments and updates before submitting your organisation’s overall responses.*

We’ve kept the questions quite open so that you can interpret as appropriate to you but if you would like further guidance, please let me know.

These are:

1. What is the most pressing issue or challenge you face as an organisation?
2. What key expertise and skillset would your staff and volunteers like to develop and/or would fill a gap/need in your organisation?
3. What are the current concerns within your community/environment that are affecting young people?
4. What are the range of interests and aspirations of young people in terms of training and employment?
5. What else would you like to get from your CWVYS Membership?

 

Please use this link to send us your responses.  It would be appreciated if you could do this by the end of July, so we can get cracking and start building plans to help you.

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

’22 is to do! – So we are on the case to help you rise again, move forward and rebuild – we are stronger together.

Thank you – and have a great day 😊.

Amanda@cwvys.org.uk

Below you can see a message from the Children and Young People’s Engagement and Participation Youth Worker at the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health.

They are looking to consult with a wide range of children and young people as part of their roadshows across the 4 Nations.

They are looking for an opportunity to come and meet with children and young people to gather their voices and ideas on “The Future of Child Health”. I hope some of you will consider getting in touch with and_us@rcpch.ac.uk, particularly those of you working with groups who are not usually included in such research, people from working class backgrounds, ethnic minorities, rural communities and so on, please feel free to share.

They want to run sessions before the end of June, perhaps you could squeeze in a focus group as part of your Volunteers Week (1 – 7^th June) or your Youth Work Week (23^rd – 30^th June) activities?

I am the Children and Young People’s Engagement and Participation Youth Worker at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH).

We are a UK wide charity, working to transform child health to make a difference for young patients.

Through our RCPCH &Us network, we support children, young people and families to participate in a range of activities including research, policy, training, events and creating their own solutions and raising important issues that affect children and young people’s health to influence key decision makers. This ensures that their voices remain at the heart of what we do.

We are carrying out a series of roadshows across the 4 Nations and we would really appreciate the opportunity to come and meet with children and/or young people in your setting to support them to share their voices and ideas on “The Future of Child Health”. This will include enabling them to contribute to the different programmes of work the college is currently working on:

• The State of Child Health – thinking about what keeps children and young people, healthy, happy and well including physical and mental health
• Climate change in the future – thinking about the future health of patients and the planet
• Health inequalities – supporting a new programme to develop a policy position statement and toolkit for paediatricians to help their conversations with children, young people and families , public affairs and media and communications work

The workshops will take 45-60 minutes and can be really flexible in your setting, for groups aged 7 – 25 years old (can be adapted to meet different learning/communication needs) for a group size of 10 – 35. All materials will be provided, along with some thank you goodies (pen, fluffy bug) for each participant.  We can also provide a letter of support that can be used with inspectors or funders to showcase how you have supported your children and young people to engage in a UK wide child health consultation programme.

We would share all results for your setting with you and link you to the final reports as and when they are launched.  All ideas, views and comments will be anonymised in any publications.

We would really appreciate it if you would be able support a session before the end of June as we are keen to include as many groups as possible in this consultation. We will have a consultation team in your area doing different sessions in different settings, so it would be great if we could pop into yours too.

If you would be able to support us with this consultation and/or would like to discuss this further or for additional information about the project, please do not hesitate to contact me on 07432030466 or on email and_us@rcpch.ac.uk . It would be great to be able to work with you and your children/young people to help influence and change health policy, I look forward to hearing from you in the very near future.

 

Alli Guiton

Engagement and Participation Youth Worker

RCPCH &Us

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
5-11 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8SH

Tel. 020 7092 6076 / Fax. 020 7092 6001 / Mobile.07715659795
Web: http://www.rcpch.ac.uk

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) is a registered charity in England and Wales (1057744) and in Scotland (SC038299)

 

A new and exciting project to Map and Evaluate the Voluntary Youth Work Sector in Wales has been launched!

The KESS project – Mapping and Evaluating the Voluntary Youth Work Sector for Wales is a Masters by Research project conducted by the University of South Wales and funded by the European Social Fund in partnership with CWVYS. The research aims to make the voluntary youth work sector more visible and ensure their contributions are valued by all stakeholders. You may be aware that the voluntary sector is under-researched and valued in comparison to statutory services, who have an audit each year. We hope our research can change this.

To do so, we would value your contribution to our short online survey. If you are an organisation that provides voluntary youth work services for young people in Wales, please follow the link below to the survey which simply captures the nature of your organisation and the support provided to young people. Survey completion should take no more than 15 minutes. Your time and comments are greatly valued.

To start the survey, please follow the below links:

Survey in English: https://southwales.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/mapping-and-evaluating-the-voluntary-youth-work-sector-for-7

Survey in Welsh: https://southwales.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/mapio-a-gwerthuso-sector-gwaith-ieuenctid-gwirfoddol-cymru

There is also a dedicated Facebook page for the project too; https://www.facebook.com/MappingYouthWorkinWales

Please also share the survey link and information among your networks (e.g. by email or social media) – the more responses we receive the better we can represent the experiences of the sector as a whole and the young people they support.

You will find further information on the project at the beginning of the survey, however, should you have any questions or feedback on the research, please feel free to contact the researcher by email: Elizabeth.bacon@southwales.ac.uk

You can also follow this work on the following social media platforms;

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MappingYouthWorkinWales
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/WorkinWales
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mappingyouthworkinwales/

Thank you in advance for your input. With your support we hope we can deliver on bringing the change and representation the sector needs.

 

Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships (KESS 2) is a pan-Wales higher level skills initiative led by Bangor University on behalf of the HE sector in Wales. It is part funded by the Welsh Government’s European Social Fund (ESF) convergence programme for West Wales and the Valleys.

 

Wellbeing packs for adults and young people

The British Red Cross are now offering their free Wellbeing packs in Welsh. Covering a range of topics, from resilience to building connections and managing stress, these packs are crammed with activities to develop coping skills. You can download copies here.

You may also be interested in their online wellbeing activities, teaching resources and free workshops. These are provided in English, and workshops are available online, via the telephone, and face to face in some areas.

Tackling loneliness is an opportunity to talk openly about loneliness and learn skills to recognise and support those who are feeling lonely. Adapt and recover focuses on building resilience. It’s an opportunity to reflect on challenges and identify practical and emotional skills that help when faced with a crisis. Coping with challenges is a workshop for groups of young people aged 10-19, which offers a resilience building framework to help them cope with daily challenges.

All these wellbeing resources are provided via the British Red Cross’s partnership with Aviva.

Find out more.

A video explaining Taith Pathway 1 and how to apply for funding. Please remember the deadline to apply for Pathway 1 funding is Thursday the 12th of May.

You can find all the resources you need to apply here; https://www.cwvys.org.uk/resources/

Apply for Taith funding through their website here; https://www.taith.wales/apply-for-funding/mobility-pathway-youth-overview/

Here you can find a number of FAQS that the Taith Youth Sector Organising Body have put together to assist applicants;

 

Can organisations registered in England or elsewhere in the UK apply for Taith funding?
There is scope for UK based organisations who operate in Wales but aren’t registered here to apply to Taith. The activity has to cover participants who are actively engaged in a Welsh organisation and the application has to demonstrate how the proposed programme will benefit Wales but they don’t need to be registered in Wales. For more information see page 34 of the Taith Programme Guide.

 

Do projects have to be new or can we apply for Taith funding to run a previous/existing project?
No, projects do not have to be new, applicants can apply to fund re-running past projects. Projects which are already funded are not eligible.

 

What age groups can participate?
For young people participating the age ranges go from 11 to 25 for activities like youth exchanges. Learners wishing to take part in volunteering opportunities, training courses and so on, will need to be between 16 – 25. For staff/professionals participating there is no upper age limit.

 

Are countries outside Europe included in Taith?
Yes. Organisations and individuals travelling outside of Wales may apply to travel to countries across the world. When finding partners and planning projects make sure to check the UK Government’s Foreign Office for travel advice and a list of countries prohibited due to instability or conflict. Applicants should take care to arrange activities in stable and safe countries for the benefit of all participants.

 

How many international partners do we need to include?
You must partner with at least one organisation in a country outside the UK. If you are applying for ‘Group mobilities – introductory travel experience’ as part of your application, you can partner with organisations within Scotland, Northern Ireland and England but the project must also include a partner from outside the UK for the international element of the project.

 

Do we need to include a specific partner in our application?
You do not need to have a partner(s) in place at the time of application. If you do then please provide as much detail as possible in the application but if you are still to identify a partner, you will just need to detail what kind of partner you are looking to work with and why. The more detail you can provide on this the better, to demonstrate that the proposed project has been well thought through and that appropriate plans are in place to make it a success. If you have identified a partner in your application and these plans change at a later stage that is fine, you would just need to demonstrate that you have a clear rationale for the change and that it will not impact your overall aims and objectives of the project.

 

Will our international partners have all their project costs covered to travel to Wales?
No. The Welsh Government is prioritising mobility opportunities for Welsh learners to travel outside of Wales. Project funding for inward mobilities for participants to come into Wales can comprise up to 30% of your project budget for outward mobilities.

 

Are staff salaries/time included in project costs?
The answer is no for Pathway 1, but organisations are able to use organisational support budget to cover some of these costs if feasible.

 

If successful, will we get all our funding awarded up front?
No but a substantial advance payment will be transferred once the grant agreement is signed, with further payments made on completion of project milestones such as submission of interim or final reports.

 

Will we be able to work with sectors other than Youth?
Yes, but bids would still have to go in to one sector not both. So if a school and youth group worked together on an application they should decide which organisation would apply to which strand, either Youth or Schools and so on.

 

Are all project costs covered?
Funding is calculated on the basis of ‘unit costs’ covering things like travel, subsistence and organisational support. The funding model has been designed to ensure that organisations are able to cover all the project costs but this is dependent on the management of the funding and organisations sticking to the pre-set unit costs. More information on the grant rates and what is covered can be found on pages 121 – 125 of the Taith Programme Guide.

 

How many bids can our organisation put in per funding call?
Each applying organisation can only submit one application per funding call. However, you can include as many activities in the application as you want – there is no maximum number. You can apply for any or all of the young people and staff activities, and can also apply for multiple of the same activities – e.g. a group mobility to France and a group mobility to South Africa.

 

How many funding calls are there per year?
Currently there is one funding call planned per year per sector – the current call deadline is 12^th May. There is a possibility that an additional funding call will be opened later in the year depending on the level of applications. If and when this is decided, further detail will be shared on the Taith website and directly to interested organisations. There is no guarantee of an additional funding call however so Taith encourage you to make the funding call deadline of 12^th May if you have a project in mind.

 

Will I have to cover visa costs for learners?
Travel related exceptional costs (such as visas, passports and vaccinations) are covered for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds – see page 118 of the Taith Programme Guide for the definition for Youth. Visa costs for other participants are not covered and will need to be covered by the individual participants, though grant funding for organisational support can be used for this where feasible.

 

Will the Welsh Government sponsor visa applications for participants travelling to Wales?
The Taith team is currently working on this and will issue further guidance in due course.

 

Is there additional funding available for disadvantaged learners or those with additional needs?
Yes, there is additional funding for disadvantaged learners and those with additional needs – see page 124 of the Taith Programme Guide for further details.

 

Can we apply for funding for projects to work with Erasmus+ partners? Where they for example apply to the Erasmus+ programme in their countries to cover their costs and we apply to Taith to cover ours?
Yes, this is allowed under the Taith funding rules and is something to be encouraged. Taith would encourage you to mention any project activities linked with Erasmus+ purely for transparency and would expect that the Taith project activities demonstrated a new activity.

 

Where does training for participants sit in the budget? (E.g. Pre-departure trainings, on arrival training etc.…)
At the moment there is no funding allocated for this and any costs incurred for these types of training would need to come from the organisational costs.

 

For the system development projects activities, does it only cover organisational outreach activities or can it include youth-led activities?
If the youth-led activities are developed and organised through a staff mobility then yes absolutely. However, it is only the staff mobility that will be funded. If you wanted co-development of these activities with young people then this could be a young person mobility project activity included in your application in conjunction with a staff mobility project activity.

 

What is Taith’s flexibility in terms of changes to project activities or not reaching intended targets after a grant has been awarded?
If an organisation fails to meet all their intended targets in their application then they will need to repay any unused budget. If an organisation is much more successful and achieves over and above their targets then unfortunately they cannot apply for further funding until the next funding call.

Taith encourages all eligible organisations applying to be ambitious with their targets and activities as long as they can justify them and they are realistic for that organisation.

Taith understands that there may need to be changes to project activities as a result of challenges with partners, destination country and/or changes to circumstances . If this is the case for your organisation you will need to get in touch with the Taith team to let them know what you plan to change and why, and to explain how the new activities will meet the aims and objectives as laid out in your application.

 

Are Taith providing budget for carbon offsetting for travel?

At the moment no. However, environmental sustainability is one of Taith’s cross cutting themes and the team are looking at ways to better embed this into the programme. Any ideas you have would be welcomed by the Taith team so please do get in touch with them to discuss.

There is a question on sustainability in the application form where you can detail what you are doing to ensure the project is as sustainable as possible. You can also use this section to detail decisions around country destinations if these has been influenced by environmental considerations.

 

You can find more support on our  Taith Resources  page; https://www.cwvys.org.uk/taith-resources/

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Helen Jones, CWVYS Communications Officer, via Helen@cwvys.org.uk