About the Youth Forum

Young people make up a third of the population of Belfast, making our city one of the youngest in Europe.

That's why we've set up a Youth Forum:

to give young people a voice
to allow you to have your say on things which affect you and your friends
to give you a chance to get involved in decision-making within the council.

Who we are

The Youth Forum is made up of young people from across Belfast.

There are 36 young people on the Forum, which has three sub-groups which are currently dealing with issues regarding teenage parents, homeless young people and the environment.

All our members are aged between 13 and 18 (21 if they are disabled or have just left care) and serve for two years.

Current forum members come from a range of areas, religions, backgrounds and cultures and represent areas across Belfast.

Role of the Youth Forum

Our members aim to represent their views and those of other young people in Belfast. They do this by:

setting targets and action plans based on what they want to achieve
examining issues through sub-groups
attending residentials and organising trips and visits to sites around Belfast
receiving training in a range of areas
offering advice to councillors on how to solve issues affecting young people
electing young people to sit on the UK Youth Parliament and the Northern Ireland Youth Forum executive committee.

New members

The application deadline has now passed.

If you're interested, find out more on our new members page.

Achievements

The Youth Forum has achieved a number of successes to date. These include:

helping to develop a new urban sports park for Belfast
working with other local, national and international youth councils
organising our annual Young People's Awards scheme
completing more than 4,000 hours of volunteer work since October 2008
15 members have received their Millennium Youth Bronze Volunteer Awards thanks to their work with the forum

The forum is also recognised as a model of good practice by other youth councils and organisations.

More information

If you are interested in the work of the Youth Forum, call Lorraine Wallace on 028 9032 0202 (extension 3595) or email youth@belfastcity.gov.uk