Sheffield City Council will be hearing proposals for solutions to some of the city’s problems from reallocated teenagers as part of a new project. The Young Changemakers project, which has been set up by the University of Sheffield’s sanctuary group, is aiming to empower teenage refugees and other reallocated groups to become future community leaders.
Dr Olena Mandrik, a research fellow at the university and organiser of the project, believes teenagers who have been reallocated due to conflict and wars are facing considerable challenges in their integration efforts:
“They’re frequently not accepted by locals equally, even though no one would say this openly. The idea to initiate this project was to help teenagers to understand that Sheffield is their city now, independently from whether they go back or whether they decide to live here forever, and they can be part of future decision-making.”
Training for leadership
Launched in March of this year, the project is inducting small groups of teenagers, aged between 12 and 18 years old, into the world of finance, marketing strategy, risk management, budget planning and idea development.
The induction classes include industry professionals such as Dr Richard Bruce, Professor Mohammad Rajjaque and Olena Zhygula.
These groups will then come up with their own solutions and present them at the Town Hall on 12 June, with the winning idea being awarded £1,000 in funding.
You can hear more about the project in Olena’s own words here:
Sustainable goals
The projects the teens come up with have to be original and comply with at least one of the United Nations 17 sustainability goals, which include gender equality, clean energy, reduced inequalities and sustainable cities.
Olena Zhygula is a Ukrainian refugee and former head of a commercial company. She believes the teenagers are aware of some of the city’s problems and that presenting their proposals will give them the confidence they need to focus on their future and what they want to do.
She added: “The small steps are very important, that’s why if a project doesn’t focus on the whole city but on a community, it will still be great, because, if we start to solve small problems, it can be implemented in different communities and then the whole city.”
