Following the launch of the new BTO strategy last week, BTO’s Youth Advisory Panel (YAP) have presented their new Youth Engagement Strategy 2023–28 to the Board of Trustees at the David Attenborough Building in Cambridge.

Alicia Hayden and Samuel Levy, both Youth Advisory Panel members, presented the YAP’s vision for the next five years, highlighting projects they aim to deliver, and a new and ambitious Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework to monitor their successes. 

The Strategy

The new Strategy is based on six values identified and defined by YAP. These are: 

• Inclusive & accessible
• Youth-led
• Helping people grow
• Collaborative & transparent 
• Innovative & dynamic
• Celebrating people’s connection to nature

A new blog by YAP member Katie explains more about the strategy and how YAP worked to create it. It was a group effort by the 13 members of YAP working together as a group, as well as with the Youth Representatives and staff. 

The six core values will underpin all the work of both YAP and the Youth Representatives moving forward. This means, for example, that we will:

• Work actively to remove barriers such as cost, by making events free and continuing to distribute free equipment through the Equipment Donation Scheme
• Ensure young voices are represented throughout the organisation, with working groups, regular meetings with staff, and YAP always presenting their own work
• Work closely in partnership with other organisations in the sector, such as at the Youth in Nature Summit

The new Youth Hub

Alongside their new Strategy, YAP is proud to launch a new Youth Hub this week, a one-stop-shop for young people to find all that BTO has to offer them.

This includes all the Youth events, blogs, online learning resources, and opportunities to join BTO. The pages also introduce the Youth Advisory Panel, Youth Representatives, Youth Trustee, and our BTO Youth staff team. This is the first step in making sure young people have a permanent and visible voice on the BTO website. 

• Visit the BTO Youth Hub

BTO Youth’s first newsletter

And finally, we’re launching a new enewsletter for young people (and those interested in the work of BTO Youth), about what’s happening at BTO Youth, from events to news updates and projects. The newsletter will be sent out once a month.