CCC Next Generation

Through this project (and more widely through their Community Organising approach), BBOWT is exploring the voice of young people in the operation and governance of nature and heritage organisations to enable more relevance to young people. In addition, they are looking at ways to be able to support their Community Network of groups and small organisations to help them learn from and engage with young people, so that their offer is more relevant, leading to more, and more meaningful involvement with young people.

BBOWT works with a community organising approach to collaboration and as such they will be using listening sessions with young people and groups to answer questions such as: how things work for young people, how can we support young people to take action for nature in a way that is meaningful for them (e.g. land management, advocacy, campaigning)? The information from the various ‘listening exercises’ is being collated and will be shared in the October online session.

This spring, the Chilterns National Landscape team worked with colleagues, youth professionals, and other organisations to explore how the Chilterns National Landscape and its partners can better reflect and respond to the needs of the next generation.

This is about learning from real experiences, understanding barriers, and identifying opportunities to ensure the Chilterns remains relevant and meaningful. By listening to those who work with young people and hearing directly from them, we can build a stronger foundation for future plans.

The insights we gather will help define how Chilterns National Landscape evolves its work with young people – whether facilitating, delivering or signposting. The approach will be shared in the October online session.

Wycombe Museum is keen to fill the gap in their provision for young people, and they are trying several new approaches to find the best way to do this:

• Hosting several 17 year old work experience students at the museum, giving them an insight into how the museum works, co-developing elements around the collection, generating content for the website and social media and getting feedback from the young people about how to make their experience better.
• Listening to their youth volunteers (16 to 19 year olds) to seek feedback on a more considered approach to the collection, hopefully developing content around their experiences of the collection and/or Wycombe.
• The museum will invite local youth groups to the museum to work with them and their collection, to rethink the way the museums tells our stories, as well as engage with groups they already work with to look at how to develop relationships and further empower young people.

The museum will be holding open/loosely structured sessions for young people with a focus on our collections, the chair story of Wycombe, but also their place in High Wycombe and what matters to them. They will ensure that each session has space for them to follow their interest/needs while also supporting them in engaging with the collections. Older teens will be given relatively free reign to develop content, with support, with the aim to have teen relevant content, written by young people, on the museum’s website and social media. These activities have led to some real insights so far – and these will be shared in the October online session.

Chiltern Rangers is building on their existing work and expertise with young people by bringing together teenagers and youth professionals for a series of hands-on sessions with a difference. There’ll be practical outdoor activities, as well as sharing ideas, building further connections with a variety of youth organisations; all shaping what happens next.

One of the standout moments was a campfire session for youth professionals and teachers – a relaxed, open space to connect, reflect, and exchange ideas around how nature fits into the lives of the young people they support. Two sessions in the late summer were left deliberately open – ready to be shaped by the voices and ideas that come through in earlier sessions. Young people will also play a central role behind the scenes, helping co-curate the programme and influence how it all comes together. Find out what happened in our October online session!

Working with a completely new group – those returning from university to the local area – Amersham Museum is working with Wild Amersham and the local parish church on a short, high-energy, burst of action project exploring hidden wildlife, investigating the past, rediscovering a town space, and making a real impact.

Young people have shaped the programme itself, both in terms of name, content, messages etc – and as a result have uncovered forgotten history, boosted local biodiversity, and brought fresh life to spaces, all whilst learning new skills and making connections with local people and places. Come along to our October learning session to hear more about it.