The Government must make a greater investment in youth services, a leading organisation has said.
The Youth Council For Northern Ireland made the appeal at an event they organised in Queen’s University, Belfast.
Projects from across the province, including Headliners, attended the Investing In Youth Work conference to show what services are available to young people and to call for more co-operation between the voluntary sector and the Northern Ireland Executive.
In his address as keynote speaker Tom Wylie, former chief executive of the National Youth Agency, highlighted Northern Ireland’s growing need for youth investment.
He added for every waking hour young people “spend 51 minutes outside of school unsupervised”.
Mr Wylie said youth organisations are “picking up this slack”, providing services to train and involve young people.
He hoped the event would show the importance of youth work and how it contributes to the “social and personal development of young people”.
Mr Wylie added: “We need a good range of youth work provision, and the funding to make this more evenly available.”
The Minister for Arts and Culture, Edwin Poots attended the presentation, and acknowledged Stormont has to address the needs of young people.
The minister said suicide among young people is one of the Assembly’s main concerns, as it is the third biggest killer in Northern Ireland.
David Guilfoyle, Chief Executive of the Youth Council expressed that he wanted more value placed on the importance of social work and to “achieve a dialogue between the different sectors”.
About this article
This story was written by Ruth Magennis, 18, pictures by Orlanda Brennan, 16, film by Joe Smyth,16, from Headliners in Belfast.
