Call for young community research volunteers
PUBLISHED ON: 15 APRIL 2024Action Hampshire is seeking four young volunteers to learn how to become a researcher and help look into the progress of a groundbreaking youth and climate scheme.
The Youth for Climate and Nature – YouCAN – scheme is working to strengthen young people’s connection to nature and deepen their understanding of what drives environmental behaviour change.
About the YouCAN scheme
The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK, awarded the New Forest National Park Authority a £1.2 million grant to enable young people aged 11 to 25 to drive change across their communities to tackle the climate and nature emergencies.
Co-created projects will bring opportunities for people to connect across different sectors in a range of urban, coastal, rural, and freshwater spaces from Bournemouth to Southampton. With match funding from partner organisations, the grant represents a £1.4m investment into the area.
After training, the volunteer community researchers aged 16-25 will be fully supported to put together a case study of a YouCAN project led by one of the seven partner organisations.
Action Hampshire has been commissioned to understand if and how the YouCAN scheme has achieved its intended outcomes and to assess the effectiveness of the YouCAN partnership.
Community Researcher Jessica Johnson for Action Hampshire is leading the project. She said: ‘This volunteer project is an opportunity to learn about climate change, its impact on nature and the actions communities and individuals are taking to make a difference.
‘The volunteers will receive training on research and evaluation, including methods and analysis, which are essential skills for most university courses and an excellent steppingstone to research careers and other jobs. It’s a chance for young people to explore a less well-known career path and will give an exciting insight into potential roles, as well as useful experience to put on job and university applications.’
Programme details
The programme will involve attending one local activity (travel expenses will be paid) with the rest taking place online. Volunteers are asked to take part in two training sessions in July and August and then work on the project for five days between August and October, selecting days and times that work best within their own schedules. Action Hampshire can provide access to digital tools and other resources for volunteers to be able to complete the case study.
How to get involved
Submit your application by 5pm on Friday 31 May here: https://forms.office.com/e/XB5cxr9GUk
To find out more, Action Hampshire is hosting an online information session on Tuesday 7 May from 6pm – 7pm.
To sign up to the 7 May Zoom session or if you have any questions, please contact alison.bridge@actionhampshire.org.
Find out more about Action Hampshire and the YouCAN scheme.
About Action Hampshire
For over 70 years, Action Hampshire has been supporting not-for-profit organisations to deliver great services to local people and communities; speak up for the changes they would like to see; and shape the future of where they live and work.
Its vision is for a strong, effective and dynamic community and voluntary sector. The ethos of all our work is to enable and empower communities to do things for themselves, by providing support, connection and representation.
Action Hampshire has been providing support to voluntary groups, charities and local government on research, impact and evaluation, scoping and learning reviews for over 20 years. It has extensive experience conducting research with communities and a real commitment to community engagement, measuring and increasing the impact of VCSE organisations and building strong communities.
