Our Voices (2013-2016)

Posted: Thu Oct, 2016

Aim: To engage with children and young people in safe and supported settings to raise attention to their work on preventing sexual violence and to support projects in Europe to develop participatory work with children who have experienced sexual violence.

Countries: Albania, Bulgaria and the UK

Partners: Barnardo's, Engage!, ISIS, Gavroche Association, Pulse Foundation, Different and Equal and Terre des hommes Albania.

Main funder: Oak Foundation

Project lead: Claire Cody

Project activities included:

Coordinating a pan-European ‘call for information’ where services across Europe were asked to share their participatory practice with young people around the issue of sexual violence.
Developing a series of consultation workshops exploring young people's role in sexual violence prevention activities facilitated by seven partners with forty-seven young people from Albania, Bulgaria and England.
Hosting a roundtable event bringing together service-providers, young people and policy makers from across Europe.
Organising a conference entitled 'young people affected by sexual violence as change makers in prevention efforts: what are the opportunities and what are the risks?'
Hosting a workshop with conference participants to discus participatory practice.
Supporting four small scale prevention projects designed and delivered by young people in Albania, Bulgaria and England.

Young people affected by sexual violence as change makers in prevention efforts: what are the opportunities and what are the risks

Claire Cody

This report provides a summary of a colloquium held at Cumberland Lodge in September 2015. The aim of the event was to provide a space to think about the risks and responsibilities, and general ethical dilemmas, which can arise when working in a participatory way with young people affected by sexual violence. The day brought together speakers and delegates with a wealth of experience of working with young people affected by sexual violence from across the UK, Europe and beyond. Participants came from both academia and practice.

Conference report Conference programme

'They don't talk about it enough'- Report on the 2014 consultations with Youth Advisors for Our Voices

Claire Cody

This report provides an overview of the findings from a number of consultations with Youth Advisors across Albania, Bulgaria and the UK. The consultations explored:

What young people felt the issues were around sexual violence in their communitites
What the barriers and challenges were to young people talking about sexual violence and acessing support
What young people thought could be done to stop sexual violence
How young people could be more involved in preventing sexual violence.

Consultation report