Our Streets Now: Changemaker Workshops
The Changemaker Programme is one of our educational offers that the team is most proud of, and is our favourite workshop to facilitate. We have run it in and out of school and college settings, and 450 young people have gone through the programme to date.
In the workshops, we set up a safe space for them to explore issues relating to public sexual harassment, sharing their opinions on why it is still a pervasive issue, why it’s hard to talk about and ultimately, what needs to change. We then guide them through a creative ideation process where they create their own project and campaign ideas. For in school and college workshops, they present these ideas to staff members and the representatives from the senior leadership team. For extra-curricular programmes, we put together a panel of local campaigners and councillors to hear and discuss their ideas for their community.
The evidence base from Ofsted, Estyn and major girls rights charities such as Plan International UK and GirlGuiding is very clear that public sexual harassment disproportionately affects young people. Despite this, young people are not being given the tools and education they need to understand and challenge it, and they are consistently left out of the conversation when it comes to what needs to change. And that is why this programme is so vital. Young people need spaces to discuss their experiences, and think critically about what they’re seeing online, or in behaviour from peers.
The Impact
Our workshops have a positive impact in three key areas:
Empowerment
Young people have the opportunity to validate and understand their own experiences, through learning about the topic and sharing their opinions. They grow in confidence to report incidents that have made them feel unsafe and to seek support.
Key Skills
Through building their own ideas for campaigns, young people learn key skills around changemaking, activism, teamwork and presenting.
Youth-Led Change
Decision-makers often ask young people about their experiences, but not their insights about what needs to change. This programme presents a unique opportunity for school and community leaders to hear directly from young changemakers.
78% of young people who have gone through the programme say they feel more confident in their power to create positive change on harassment after the sessions.
What do young people say?
“I like the control we had in our campaigns and how we were made to feel that we’re capable of doing anything.”
“It helped validate my experiences with sexual harassment.”
“I like how fun and unique it was and how we were able to voice our opinions in a judgement free way.”
“It is a safe space to talk about subjects that can be scary to talk about.”
“I learnt that I can truly make a difference and stand up for myself and other girls.”
And hear from a staff member…
“Our students really enjoyed the workshop, and our teachers were incredibly impressed with how well they engaged with the activities. Exploring real-life experiences of PSH helped the students to understand what PSH is and the impact it has on young people. The focus on designing campaigns and being proactive was really engaging, and the students were inspired to be creative, imaginative and productive - producing pieces of work that they were all incredibly proud of. We are looking forward to welcoming the team back to facilitate more workshops with even more students.” Emma Beckett - Health & Social Care Lecturer, New College, Swindon.
Get Involved
If you have a group of young people that you think would benefit from this programme, then have a look at our schools page https://www.ourstreetsnow.org/our-schools or send an enquiry to programmes@ourstreetsnow.org
To ask about volunteering with Our Streets Now or helping to facilitate these programmes, you can contact hello@ourstreetsnow.org
If you’re a young activist looking for some inspiration for your campaign against sexual harassment, have a look at the Streetworthy website, made by a group of young people who took part in one of our programmes https://www.streetworthy.co.uk/
And finally, if you’d to donate to our work to ensure we can keep reaching more young people, head here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=GBLV4QRART7LC
