YouthPact

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The Role of the Quality & Impact Body: The Peace IV Children & Young People Programme will result in 7,400 marginalised and disadvantaged young people completing approved programmes that develop their soft skills and a respect for diversity. The Programme level result indicators relate to improved relationships between the Region’s two largest communities (CRN and PUL) in the short, medium and long term. It is anticipated that the Programme will be delivered by 10-12 delivery organisations. To support these organisations in achieving the Programme outputs results, an appointed Quality & Impact Body (Q&I Body) will be responsible for the following: Change and Outcomes Focus. Learning and Shared Best Practice. Practitioner Support. Impact Practice Role. Quality Assurance. Progression Advisory Services. YouthPact: YouthPact is a cross border partnership of four regional organisations: Co-operation Ireland (CI) (Lead Partner); Ulster University (UU); National Youth Council Ireland (NYCI); and Pobal. Collectively, the Partnership is best placed to perform the role of the Q&I Body given that it: Educates and develops the majority of Youth Workers deployed across the Region (UU); Provides an extensive range of training programmes for the youth sector workforce and has a long track record of leading best practice in the area of youth participation and advocacy (NYCI); Has decades of institutional experience of cross community / cross border youth focused good relations programmes (CI); and, Has 25 years’ experience of delivering social inclusion, equality and peace-building programmes on behalf of government and EU throughout Ireland and on a crossborder basis (POBAL). YouthPact activities will be delivered under two work streams as follows: 1. Support, Development and Enhancement Management of learning events for all project delivery organisations across six areas; good relations; personal development; citizenship; engagement with hard to reach groups; youth approaches; and youth participation. Development and dissemination of youth participation and progression resources. Provision of thematic related Development Officer support for practitioners. 2. Monitoring, Research and Measurement Preparation of a scoping study to inform a mixed methods research strategy, with qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Management of training events and meetings to embed Theory of Change methodologies within the practice of delivery organsiations. Preparation of Phase 1 and 2 reports and articles, identifying areas of good practice recommendations for project deliverers to assist in the achievement of target levels of participants and impactIn addition, YouthPact will develop a Theory of Change for the Children & Young People Programme, distinguished by a focus on the impact of peace-building processes on young lives. In addition YouthPact will utilise the learning gathered from the delivery projects, to model how the principles of Personal Development, Good Relations and Citizenship, delivered through a range of methodologies, impact on young people in terms of: Fulfilling their own potential. Effective interaction with others. Positive engagement with difference. Active and valuable contribution to a changing society. These project related outputs will make a significant contribution to the capacity of individual delivery organisations to achieve the target number of young people associated with their project; in addition to an overall contribution to the achievement of 7,400 young people successfully completing Peace IV Children & Young People approved programmes. Management: YouthPact will be managed by a Programme Manager with three Development Officers with the following individual specialisms: monitoring and measurement; youth work and youth participation; and cross border and cross community peace building. Options Appraisal and Costs: The Partners considered a number of project design related options including variances regarding the scale of the programme; the methodologies; and the management arrangements. YouthPact will cost €1.2m to deliver between 2017 – 2021. Risk Management: The Partners have identified a number of potential risks associated with the Programme including loss of one or more of the project partners and insufficient engagement from delivery organisations. Related mitigation strategies have been developed and the YouthPact risk register will be reviewed on a monthly basis for the duration of the programme. Sustainable Development: Youthpact has been developed to align with the EU Council’s Sustainable Development Principles and will adhere to all regional equality legislation. Communications: The Partners have developed a multi-faceted YouthPact Communications Plan. Related activities will include an online project profile linked to all partner websites; an electronic dissemination point; a project launch event; online resources; social media channels for practice and policy dissemination and sign-posting content; a project e-zine; and profiling events through print media. Exit Strategy: Learning from YouthPact will be widely disseminated and utilised to inform the design and delivery of future children and young people interventions focused on developing the capacity of young people and contributing to the creation of a more cohesive society across the Region.

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