Gary Seath 5 months ago
Scottish Youth Parliament #SYP81 Representation
The Scottish Youth Parliament is the democratically elected voice of Scotland’s young people, that co-designs innovative, youth-led campaigns to proactively create meaningful change across a broad range of topics.
Having become an affiliate member of the Scottish Youth Parliament earlier this year, Rubie and Chloe represented Forces Children Scotland at the 81st sitting in Stirling earlier this month.
Rubie (left) and Chloe (right) standing next to a Scottish Youth Parliament pop-up banner at #SYP81.
You may be asking yourself, what happens at a Scottish Youth Parliament sitting?
The answer – lots of things! It’s a packed weekend of presentations, panel discussions, debates and workshops.
The most recent elections for the Scottish Youth Parliament happened late last year, so #SYP81 proved the first sitting experience for many young people involved.
Much of what happened over the weekend focused on launching three specific campaigns for the 2023/25 term:
Increase mental health training and education.
Rubie and Chloe participated in subject area workshops as part of the consultative process regarding how the three campaigns will shape up over the term.
The experience provided opportunities to observe Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPS) proposing motions concerning access to local sports facilities, LGBTQ+ rights, public transport, and much more.
Better still, our young people participated in campaign design and children’s rights sessions that provided lots of useful advice, information, and tips to take forward into future Forces Children Scotland campaigns.
We’re pleased to say it wasn’t all business. A ceilidh was held on a Saturday night to celebrate 25 years of the Scottish Youth Parliament with plenty of dancing, activities, and, most importantly, pizza.
Forces Children Scotland’s affiliate membership provided an invaluable opportunity for Rubie and Chloe to consider how they can apply what they have learned and potential future steps, such as becoming an MSYP in the future.
Rubie said:
“I think it’s proved a good experience overall. I learned lots of valuable information to apply to future campaigns with Forces Children Scotland.
Things like media influencing was really interesting. Also enjoyed the MSYP presentation about anti-racism. I’m not from a very diverse area, so it was good to learn about stereotypes and much more.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to become an MSYP. However, the more I got involved and listened to them and what they do certainly got me thinking about maybe doing so in the future.”
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