This paper documents the learning from The Youth of Today Youth Leadership Fund (YLF), and sets out 8 steps in supporting youth leadership development through the meaningful involvement of young people.

This paper draws together the reflections and experiences of organisations funded by the Youth Leadership Fund - our grantees. The funded organisations are diverse - in thematic focus (ranging from sport to human rights), the young people targeted and the specific needs addressed (including youth with disabilities, young asylum seekers and young people not in employment, education or training), and geographical location (spread across the country, spanning urban and ruralcontexts; see the grantee map on inside front cover). The majority of organisations were funded to scale up existing programmes at a regional level, while a smaller number of organisations received significant investment to build capacity to develop youth leadership. These reflections are supported by insights gleaned from our own journey of developing youth-led practice at the Young Foundation, informed by material from interviews with the young people who worked alongside us as part of our Youth Leadership Teams.

The result is 8 steps in developing youth leadership - a path for organisations to follow in building the meaningful involvement of young people, and understanding the wider social impact of their work.

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Access the accompanying "The Youth of Today Youth Leadership Fund: In Numbers (June 2011)"