Shout Out! workshops

Shout Out! workshops aim to equip young people with the tools, knowledge and inspiration to make an impact on issues that matter to them through campaigning. This programme is funded by the City Bridge Trust.

Shout Out! workshops are for 14 to 18 year olds in the Greater London area. The format encourages active citizenship, enables young people to engage with their communities positively and gives them the confidence to have their voices heard in matters that affects young people’s independence, safety and social mobility in London.

Who do we work with?

The programme has been running since 2008, with SMK delivering workshops to over 850 young people primarily in London’s 10 most deprived boroughs.

The workshop format is flexible and provides bespoke content that is specific to a group’s needs. This allows the programme to be relevant to workshop attendees, particularly in selecting case studies and speakers.

Workshops introduce young people to the basics of campaign planning and strategy and are designed to bring out decision making attributes. Attendees work closely with SMK staff to identify issues in their community and formulate a campaign solution including problem solving, gathering support, research skills and how to draw together evidence for credibility.

SMK works with groups across London including La Sainte Union school, Central Foundation Girls school and Lambeth and Lewisham Youth Councils. The schools and Youth Councils have given us an opportunity to work with a range of individuals with creative campaigning ideas. These young people have continued to work on their campaigns.

Workshops provide a platform for young campaigners to develop their campaign. The programme itself has a unique approach in that the young people are given the freedom to develop their own campaigns on issues that they feel are important, from global warming to local youth activities. Young people leave with a sense of ownership and drive as they believe strongly in their own campaigns.

Several students from one of our workshops used their newfound skills and inspiration to develop “Breaking the Chain”, a campaign to encourage young people to recognise the cycle of fear and violence that is connected to youth knife crime. Other campaigns developed in 2010 workshops include an AIDS awareness campaign for young Londoners, anti-youth poverty and ‘Don’t let being gay ruin your day’ – a campaign to encourage positive discussion of homosexuality in schools.

SMK plans to continue this work to help nurture young people’s skills and creativity to bring about positive change for them, and for their community.

If you are interested in our Shout Out! programme or to find out more e-mail us at mustafa.korel@smk.org.uk or call Mustafa on 020 7697 4043.