Tim's Blog

A common checklist for planning an event or promoting a new project:

• Think up a name [CHECK]
• Design a logo and brand [CHECK]
• Find someone to print t-shirts with the logo on [CHECK]
• Check that the t-shirts are made with fairtrade cotton....... um, check?

When I started campaigning for Oxford University to only sell ethically traded clothing back in 2003, we had to dig around and research a lot to find out how to source ethical clothing. The FAIRTRADE Mark for cotton didn't exist then - and choosing ethical clothes meant a six-week lead time and a lot of extra cost.

I've just been sitting outside the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank watching adults and children alike run in and out of the 'fountain rooms' on the terrace. It looks fun. In fact it is...

When we ran the Actions Speak Louder awards, one of the top criteria set by the young judges for winning projects was that they must be fun.

How much fun will there be at the Youth Summit conference over the next two days?

On Monday and Tuesday next week I'll be at the Youth Summit co-ordinating 'Youth Summit Live' - an online space for capturing input from the conference, and opening up the conference to a wider audience and range of inputs.

The billing for the Youth Summit sets out a big challenge:

The Youth Summit will herald the new era of service provision for young people with emerging priorities from the Government’s ten-year strategy for children and young people and the Comprehensive Spending Review. The event will explore the Government’s ‘youth offer’ and map out the policy landscape for outcome-driven services for young people and their communities. It will hear directly from a wide range of young people as experts by experience.

The Civicus Youth Assembly has left its mark on the Civicus World Assembly in this statment, presented to delegates in the closing plenary (as well as in young peoples contributions throughout the event).