My contribution

I thought I would start off my postings with a summary of some of the work I've been doing this year as MYP and in the past few years alongside my predecessors.

I became involved in some local projects about 2 or 3 years ago through South Gloucestershire Youth Forum, which I was a member of for 2 years, before the Council changed our Youth Service around. With this, I helped make and promote a Sex and Relationships education project, which was funded by the Terrence Higgins Young Leaders' Panel. It included a DVD (made by ourselves), some resources and a lesson plan which we created based upon our own experiences of sex and relationships education, or rather, the lack of it. We launched it at an event attended by councillors and youth workers and it was sent to all the schools in South Gloucestershire. My work with the Youth Forum certainly was my launching point for my UKYP work.

I now sit on South Gloucestershire Youth Board, where we are the direct bridge between the local youth groups and the council youth sectors. This year, in my combined role, I have helped organise and run an anti-bullying conference, which took place in July. We invited year 10 pupils from local schools to gather information about their experiences of their schools' anti-bullying strategies with the hope of setting a minimum standard which all schools in South Gloucestershire must adhere to and exceed. I also have been looking at the particular areas of homophobic (working with the organisation EACH) and racist bullying, as it is a growing problem in South Gloucestershire. I have also been working on a transport concessionary scheme for young people in school years 9-13 which is looking certain to be in place from April 2010.

I have also been active in the representation side of my role; I recently was called upon to speak to 50 councillors and authority figures about why they should not overlook the power of young people's opinions, the importance of our inclusion and crucially, why we must be treated with respect. This was something I really really enjoyed; it was one of those moments where you know that you have made a difference!

This House of Commons visit will show the young people in my area that their voices are being raised to a higher level; that, to me, is the most important thing. It makes me unspeakably proud to be the person to do it this; it is an honour of the highest measure. I just have to try now to not embarrass everybody!

Thanks for reading!
Fliss :)