Welcome to the Youthsearch database,

a Minority Ethnic Youth Research Project.

This is an interagency piece of work carried out by WheelWorks in partnership with Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM) and the Youth Council for Northern Ireland (YCNI) who were the commissioning body.

We undertook to identify and collect information on as many minority ethnic groups and associations (including faith groups) involving young people throughout Northern Ireland as possible within our 6 month timeframe.

The primary project aim was to create an easily accessible database which included contact details as well as relevant information, such as groups’ activities, organisational needs and interests which would be useful to all those working in the statutory, voluntary and youth sectors, individuals and other minority ethnic groups wishing to work with or find out about each other.

We hope this database will go some way to promoting good practice in information sharing between agencies and help develop new networks of communication and co-operation between minority ethnic communities themselves and the wider society in Northern Ireland, by raising awareness of the existence of the range of different ethnic groups and making contact more straightforward for interested parties.

Methods
Through the combined approaches of obtaining contact details lists from organisations working in this field, posting calls for groups on online newsletters, attending conferences and publicising the project on local access television, we were able to identify approximately 60 minority ethnic groups.

We attempted to make contact with these 60 informing them of the project aims and asking them to fill out a questionnaire, on which we invited consultation from a range of agencies and minority ethnic groups.

Our database contains contact details and information on over 30 groups. Some groups declined to take part citing as their reasons, lack of involvement with young people or expressed reluctance about having their details on the internet. Some groups we were unable to make contact with, while with others we simply ran out of time trying to establish contact with a group member able to fill out our questionnaire.

We do not claim to have produced a definitive picture of all operational minority ethnic groups which involve young people in Northern Ireland at this time, but in attempting to collect and collate this information in one widely accessible place we hope that we have provided a starting point for all those interested in information sharing and seeking a small glimpse of the range of ethnicities, faiths and the activities that are currently being undertaken.

Challenges
Some of the difficulties involved in this kind of work lie with the nature of a lot of groups being very small, run by part time staff or volunteers, which can mean it is harder to establish basics such as groups existence, their willingness to take part in such a project or being able to make contact with an appropriate current staff member with enough knowledge to fill out our questionnaire. Other factors are; some groups are transient, contact details held by umbrella organisations are not always regularly updated and for some groups cultural reasons may make it difficult to make contact with strangers.

Of the groups that did respond, an overwhelming majority of them expressed an interest in receiving information on issues such as accessing funding, staff development and training and cross community projects, showing that there is a desire within the minority ethnic community involved in working with young people to develop themselves as organisations and their links with other groups. Many third party organisations also expressed an interest in the findings of our research also showing a willingness in the wider community to develop relationships with minority ethnic groups and their young people.

Summing Up
In conclusion this is a finite piece of research which in no way are we attempting to suggest presents a comprehensive or definitive picture of minority ethnic youth in Northern Ireland, but we hope that it at the very least it could form the basis of more joined up thinking within this sector, and more interagency co-operation. The challenge to other agencies is to build on this kind of work either by using their own resources to develop it or letting it form the basis of something much bigger.

We would like to express our thanks to all the groups who filled in our questionnaire and to the organisations below for their help, advice and interest:

Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Bahá’í Council of Northern Ireland
Barnardos Tuar Ceatha Services
Ballymena Community Forum Ethnic Community Association
Equality Commission
Children in Northern Ireland
Community Foundation Northern Ireland
Mandarin Speakers Association
Multi-Cultural Resource Centre
Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action
Northern Visions
One World Centre Northern Ireland
The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister
Voluntary Arts Ireland

Sheelagh Colclough
YouthSearch – Minority Ethnic Youth Research Project Co-ordinator, WheelWorks
May 2007

Foreword

The Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities
One of NICEM’s key aims is to support the development of work with young people within the black and minority ethnic sector particularly around leadership within the next generation, and to work in partnership with existing organisations promoting good practice and inclusion such as Wheelworks and the Youth Council for Northern Ireland.

The response to the project has been very positive and it is clear that there are many BME groups in Northern Ireland involving young people in their work. However, it is also clear from the response to the project that there is a lack of resources within the sector and a strong demand for further support on skills development in working with young people in the sector.

What is also apparent is the enthusiasm from outside the BME sector, from the wider youth and voluntary sector for the information which this project has gathered. Many organisations are keen to involve young BME individuals in their work but have found it difficult to connect with BME organisations, again often because of a lack of capacity and resources within those groups. This project will begin the process of filling the gaps and linking up organisations with the skills and knowledge in the field, with those who wish to develop their work with young people and increase the level of participation and representation of the BME youth sector within the wider community.

NICEM would like to thank Sheelagh Colclough and Lucy McCullagh from Wheelworks for their work in the completion of this project, it is a very important piece of work for the future development of work with young people and particularly new communities in Northern Ireland.

Gabrielle Doherty
Co-ordinator of Capacity Building, NICEM

The Youth Council for Northern Ireland is the statutory youth body for Northern Ireland, established by the 1989 Youth Service (NI) Order. Through the delivery of its functions and work programmes, the Youth Council seeks to champion the well-being, rights and participation of young people by: supporting the development of effective youth policies and quality youth work practice; and facilitating meaningful collaboration between youth organisations and all sectors with responsibility for young people.

WheelWorks is a youth arts organisation providing young people aged 4 to 25, particularly those from disadvantaged and marginalized communities, with the opportunity to explore their creativity in partnership with professional artists.
WheelWorks empowers young people to address issues of importance to them through the arts, producing innovative art work which celebrates cultural diversity while highlighting issues such as discrimination and social exclusion.

The Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM) is a membership based voluntary sector organisation which is representative of the ethnic minority communities in Northern Ireland. The organisation aims to identify and respond to the needs of ethnic minority communities, provide training for potential leaders from within the ethnic minority communities and promote the interests of ethnic minority communities.

WheelWorks core funders