ResPublica and NCVYS launch joint Commission on Youth

Governance | Jonathan Last | 4 Apr 2012

Think tank ResPublica and the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services have announced a joint 12-month Commission on Youth and are seeking consortium partners.

Triggered by England’s riots in August, the two organisations hope the April 2012 to April 2013 project will help increase understanding and tackle what ResPublica calls “one of the worst waves of civil unrest in a generation”.

“Reviews and enquiries have already been conducted in order to analyse the motivations of the rioters, but understanding remains partial,” a spokesperson for Respublica said today.

"This Commission will focus on establishing a holistic narrative to shape and redefine terms of the debate around the riots," they added.

In order to achieve its aims, the Commission will initially investigate "the correlation between institutional anomie and civil unrest", seeking to answer "whether alienation from social institutions translates into the fragmentation of social identity and rejection of self-regulatory values".

The draft issues for debate by the Commission comprise four topics: economic and moral poverty; young people’s relationship with authorities and institutions; family structure and community support; and young people’s engagement and participation.

The groups hope the Commission will result in the publication of a ResPublica Green Paper to inform policy on the matter, and plan to hold a full-day conference near Westminster for key decision-makers from local and national organisations.

Inviting interest

The two groups are now inviting interest from civil society organisations to form the Commission’s steering group.

Faiza Chaudary, deputy chief executive at NCVYS, told civilsociety.co.uk: “We launched yesterday and have already had an amazing amount of interest, from civil society organisations and MPs – although our approach is more philosophical at the moment, rather than overtly political.

“The voluntary sector is about all about young people, communities and charities and by bringing a diverse range of people together I think we will have something really interesting at the centre of this project.

"The steering group will play a very important part in shaping the Commission."

The Commission on Youth will be launched at a roundtable in early May.

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