Seed Funding Programme 2009

5 May 2009

For the second year running, Y Care International’s Seed Funding Programme is underway. Funded by the Department for International Development, the programme offers grants to members of our Youth Workers Network to carry out short-term global youth work projects with marginalized young people in YMCAs, on topics including Youth Justice, HIV/AIDS, conflict and youth citizenship.

On 25 April, a panel selected seven innovative global youth work projects to receive grants totaling over £8000. These projects will run from May 2009 – March 2010. Congratulations to those who have been successful. If your application was unsuccessful, there will be another opportunity to apply for funding later in the year. The successful projects are detailed below. For more detailed information, please download the pdf.

Seed Funding Projects

Bandon YMCA are running a project to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, challenging stereotypes in the community. They will be linking the issue with Y Care International’s partners in countries where the YMCA works to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Young people at Cardiff YMCA, who have already developed a Sex and Relationship Peer-education project, will look at the global context of sexual health. They will run workshops in YMCAs in South Wales to raise awareness of the stigma that young people face when affected by HIV/AIDS in India and will compare it with how young people are supported in the UK.

Cumbernauld YMCA’s project will raise awareness of the importance of Fairtrade in the modern world and increase young people’s understanding of Fairtrade, by exploring the issues surrounding ‘sweat shops’ and by studying global interdependence.

Lisburn YMCA and Leith Acorn Centre are running a joint project on gangs. In both communities, issues around gang violence and territorialism are common. Many of the young people these YMCAs work with have difficult relationships with the authorities. This project is designed to show this is a common theme in other countries, such as Honduras.

Portadown and Lurgan YMCA are running a joint project on youth justice. The aim of this project is to challenge the media’s negative portrayal of young people. The YMCAs involved will use a variety of activities to address the ‘twisting the truth’ aspect of Y Care International’s Youth Justice in Action campaign and look at the global element by addressing the gang-related problems of the justice system in Honduras.

West Dublin YMCA are running a project on crime and the police. They will address the stereotypes given to young people by the justice system in Ireland and raise awareness of justice issues for young people in their community, drawing comparisons with the situation in Honduras.

Young people at West London YMCA will be joining with members of ‘TenSing Estonia,’ who are visiting London in October 2009. Both groups will perform a jointly-created song about a topic that affects young people in England and Estonia to several schools in London. The song will also be recorded onto CD.