Over the past 15 months, a group of our Young Wales volunteers have been working alongside Welsh Government to co-produce an easy-to-read, bilingual version of the Budget Improvement Plan (BIP). The resources produced engages young people to empower them to voice their perspectives and influence changes that will impact their lives.
When Welsh Government initially asked our Young Wales Project Board if they wanted to get involved, our volunteers were eager to get started. In preparation, they met with several civil servants and officials from across Welsh Government to gain a deeper understanding of what the project would entail.
The goal was to create an animation and leaflet that would easily explain the Welsh Government’s five-year Budget Improvement Plan (BIP) and the topics it covers. To ensure young people could understand and engage with these items, they would be created by young people, for young people.
On the 27th February 2024, the Young Wales BIP group met with the Welsh Government staff who they produced the resources with, as well as the Minister for Finance and Local Government Rebecca Evans, to celebrate their work and officially launch the animation.
We are excited to share this with you now: Animation on the Budget Improvement Plan (youtube.com)
Our young volunteers have worked hard to co-produce these materials, regularly communicating with the Welsh Government Central Design Team to sketch, plan and develop both a leaflet and the animation.
The leaflet can be viewed here: https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2024-02/budget-improvement-plan-2024-2025-community-version.pdf
Arthur Templeman-Lilley, one of the young volunteers, said:
"Co-production is one of the most productive ways for young people to collaborate with professionals towards a shared goal. Young people are experts in their own lives, bringing a fresh perspective to decision-making and creative tables. When their voices are given equal weight to that of the adults in the room, we have the ability to create a final product that encapsulates diverse viewpoints, and empowers young people in the process, giving us access to what is fundamentally our right."
Valuable information like the BIP should not be inaccessible. Young people deserve to be involved and have the option of learning about topics that may ultimately affect their everyday lives. This is why we developed these resources.
As they were written in the words of our young volunteers, we hope our animations and leaflets will help young people, and anyone who is interested, learn about the BIP and the intricate topics that are included.
We would like to thank our young volunteers for all their hard work on this project. We would also like to thank everyone from Welsh Government who helped create these vital resources, especially Rhian Williams, Lisa Daniels-Griffiths, and everyone in the Central Design Team.
