http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_blog en imogenwalsh90@hotmail.com Copyright 2008 2008-09-02T15:01:06+00:00 http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/my_summer_as_a_young_adviser_by_imogen/ http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/my_summer_as_a_young_adviser_by_imogen/#When:15:01:06Z This summer I have been working as a young adviser for CRAE. I decided that I would prefer to complete all my work based in the office in London, this meant I had to commute everyday. The commuting would be the only thing I would change if I could, other than that I really enjoyed working for CRAE. I found doing my work in the office more rewarding as I could make sure that I was doing the right thing, it also made me feel part of the CRAE team. The tasks which I worked on were very interesting and most definitely opened my mind to the work that CRAE does outside of Get Ready for Geneva. I also learnt a lot about government initiatives and legislation. The thing that I enjoyed most was creating a briefing paper for the two young people going to Geneva this month. This allowed me to share my experiences from my own trip to Geneva earlier this year. I felt I could give useful advice and general information that they might not have known. I have also really enjoyed working along side the other two young advisers and getting to know what tasks that they were working on. I’ve learnt a lot this summer; I have developed new writing skills and being able to communicate to specific audiences. I have also learnt how to create and write briefing papers and most of all I have become more aware of the hard work which happens at CRAE. I will no longer take for granted the information which gets sent out or the emails I receive. Overall, I have really enjoyed my experience as a young adviser, I have learnt lots of new skills and I have been able to develop skills that I already have. I would recommend this post to anyone wanting to be further involved in CRAE or just simply wanting to gain work experience in children’s rights. 2008-09-02T15:01:06+00:00 http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/nasty_mosqutio/ http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/nasty_mosqutio/#When:12:14:40Z Hi All, Hope everyone is well, juts thought I would tell you about some of what I am doing at the moment…. our council is trying to bring in some lovely devices called mosqutios… which are horrible high pitches noises that only children/young people can hear, if an adult has excellent hearing they can sometimes hear them too! They are often used to move young people aware from places, we have sent a letter to an area committee asking for them not to be used, we have had a few replies, and were in the newspaper with our cause. However a fear is they are juts going to go ahead with it, as the funding has been granted for them to buy it, we also found out they were in other parts of the area – serious campaigning needed! We are at the moment waiting until it is decided who is in charge of the cabinet until we can do anything else, but I hope it gets decided soon, because this issue needs to be sorted out. The mosquitos break one of the conventions on the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, also is it age discriminatory, and wouldn’t be used on any other group in society! I’ll keep you updated! Take Care; Natalie Steering Group 2008-05-06T12:14:40+00:00 http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/day_4_in_new_york/ http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/day_4_in_new_york/#When:13:18:40Z Today I spoke to the UN General Assembly about a child’s perspective about life in the UK. It was an amazing, once in a lifetime opportunity. To speak to the world’s leaders and all the country representatives and have my voice heard. I was then interviewed by UNICEF for their website and also for their regular podcast subscribers. I also sat at the round table which discussed Education in Emergencies, which also contained various world figures. At the end of the day was the Children’s Forum Goodbye Party! It was very sad saying goodbye to all the other young people but it was amazing just to meet such great young people! 2007-12-14T13:18:40+00:00 http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/day_3_in_new_york/ http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/day_3_in_new_york/#When:12:32:40Z Today we went to the United Nations for the World Fit for Children meeting. It started with the General Assembly plenary meeting with an opening statement from a youth delegate representing the youth forum. The statement was very powerful and got its message across to world leaders. (We will try and put it on the website for you to read!). In the afternoon I went to the round table discussion on HIV/Aids and promoting healthier lives for young people. I was able to ask 2 questions to world leaders and government officials. Unfortunately I didn’t get any answers – showing that more needs to be done. We also got to meet the rest of the UK government delegation. They were really nice and I am happy to be working alongside them! 2007-12-12T12:32:40+00:00 http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/day_two_in_new_york/ http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/day_two_in_new_york/#When:12:31:40Z Today at the World Fit for Children event I started working with my reporting committee. We had media training on how to be reporters and journalists. This involved audio, video and writing training. We then used our newly developed skills at the Children’s Forum reception in the evening. This was a great event with amazing music from West Africa and everyone joined in with traditional African, and not so traditional European dancing!!! The atmosphere was great with a buzz in the air. 2007-12-12T12:31:40+00:00 http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/day_one/ http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/day_one/#When:10:58:40Z Hi, this is Iqra here live from New York! Today was the first day of the World Fit for Children +5 event. It was great meeting delegates from all around the world and between us we spoke over 20 languages from 53 countries. The main aim of today was to understand and to identify what the goals and expectations are from this event. I also enjoyed eating Japanese food for the first time and learning how to use chop sticks – it was an interesting experience! 2007-12-12T10:58:40+00:00 http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/debate/ http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/debate/#When:16:05:40Z Last week I held a debate session in my college all about get ready for geneva, and more than 60 people attended! People asked loads of questions, we discussed freedom and even got around to votes at sixteen. It was a really exciting debate; a great way to publicise the project and it was nice to see people getting passionate about having their voices. Lauren 2007-11-27T16:05:40+00:00 http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/promoting_the_website/ http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/promoting_the_website/#When:12:49:40Z Hi everyone, I’ve got my school to put the Get Ready for Geneve website link on the schools internet home page, so that whenever someone access’s the internet in school they always see the link with a message saying “Click here to do the survey”. So far it’s had a good response and maybe it is a way we could promote it in other schools as well. 2007-10-09T12:49:40+00:00 http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/cumberland_extended_write_up/ http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/cumberland_extended_write_up/#When:17:56:40Z Hey Just to follow up from my other blog about Cumberland Lodge. So me and Daniel met up at the CRAE offices on the day to plan the speech/presentation that we were going to give at an event called Children’s Rights: Children’s Lives. It was well attended by many professionals including academics, teachers, journalists and us. We spoke about what Children’s Rights meant to us, we explained that Children’s Rights need to be publicised more and further education needs to be provided around this topic. We also promoted Get Ready for Geneva and CRAE. After delivering our speech we than had various questions asked and although quite nervous at this point we both pulled it off well. After the formal part we then went in for dinner and sat with some lovely people who were interested about the work that we do locally and nationally and we spoke about the project ALOT! It was a great experience to have had and thanks Sam for taking us!!! 2007-10-01T17:56:40+00:00 http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/a_lesson_for_change/ http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/about/steering_group_comments/a_lesson_for_change/#When:20:02:40Z I delivered a lesson to a year 9 class in West Sussex a little while back and it was great. The best hting was when they were in group making posters about the ‘big’ rights and presenting them back. Also they liked the webiste!!! Kevin x 2007-09-26T20:02:40+00:00