Youth Advisory Boards (YAB) involve a wide range of local agencies and services which actively involve young people at each stage of the commissioning process:
- identifying needs
- setting local priorities
- deciding how to meet those needs and how funding will be spent
All YABs have the same terms of reference and core membership to ensure consistency across the county. Membership of YABs comprises a wide range of agencies but importantly young people, who attend as full board members.
About youth advisory boards
YABs commission activities to support youth provision or build capacity to develop youth provision in each locality. Activity must be targeted at 11 to 19 year olds; and young people aged up to 25 years with learning difficulties or disabilities. Young people’s needs are assessed and priorities set in an annual commissioning plan.
The Norwich YAB
Established in February 2012 in line with the county council’s developments to support youth provision locally, the Norwich YAB meets every two months in order to:
- maintain a strategic overview of local youth provision across Norwich based on the needs of young people aged 11-25
- commission services and sustainable activities to meet young people’s needs, especially for those who are more vulnerable.
To ensure young people are actively engaged in all stages of the commissioning process the Norwich YAB has established four youth advisory groups (YAGs) – one in each of the four neighbourhood areas of the city.
There are 1.5 youth and development workers employed to support the YAB and its YAGs. Paul Webb is lead, based at the Mancroft Advice Project. He can be contacted at paulwebb@MAP.uk.net
You can follow Norwich YAB on Facebook and Twitter.
