UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGES AND SERVICES ACROSS THE AREA
" Experience tells us that the more local the knowledge and understanding of needs are , the better it is . Funding for the delivery partners was left relatively unrestricted with a requirement to deliver universal youth work , offer accreditation opportunities , and provide a youth voice . How this was achieved is left to the localities so that they could use their local knowledge , skills , and resources . This has worked exceptionally well with each locality having increased their reach to young people in the geographic location of delivery , range of activity offered and staff and volunteers to deliver it . Quarterly reporting of qualitative and quantitative information has helped build a very clear picture of the services available across Perth and Kinross .
Active involvement of the Safer Communities Team at bi-monthly update meetings has helped inform , and respond to need identified by other service providers in Perth and Kinross ."
USE AND SHARING OF LIMITED RESOURCES
" One of the major resource challenges of the youth work sector is people and skills and the ability to respond to the highs and lows of need for staff and volunteers . Across the partnership , the ability to share skills and expertise in youth work themes has been invaluable in growing each of the partners ’ breadth of offer . Skills in Outreach and Street Work have been shared between localities , along with experience in supporting Youth Bands , and Accredited Youth Work Awards . The ability to “ borrow ” staff from localities has become the norm in a form of a Youth Work Barter Economy where skills , experience , resources , and ideas are informally bartered without credit accounts .
The impact of this is that each of the five localities are able to pinch ideas to develop for themselves , expand the breadth of youth work themes that they can offer in their locality , and share resources without each of them having to have and hold their own . So what ? The impact of this is a much richer and broader youth work offer to every young person in Perth and Kinross . We may not be able to genuinely claim that every young person is engaged but the statistics tell us that the Perth and Kinross Youth Work Alliance is directly reaching one third of the Secondary School pupils in Perth and Kinross ."
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