Working with Young People
Here at Radnorshire Wildlife Trust we work hard to empower and inspire young people to take action for nature and wildlife.
We work with young people across the vice-county, running educational school sessions and with local youth groups, putting on events to encourage young people to act for nature, and providing long-term traineeships and work placements to upskill and inspire young adults to pursue careers in the conservation sector.
Radnorshire Wildlife Trust is currently delivering the Green Future Leaders project, focused on empowering young people, aged 16-25, to take action for nature and think more sustainably. We are providing young people with the tools they need to combat the climate and biodiversity crisis, while improving Radnorshire for nature.
Find out more here: Green Future Leaders | Radnorshire Wildlife Trust (rwtwales.org)
Stand for Nature Wales
The five Wildlife Trusts in Wales came together in 2021 to tackle climate change with the help of the young people of Wales. Our team have worked hard to reach out to young people all across Radnorshire all the way up to July 2024. We've had some brilliant experiences and achievements during this time:
Traineeship
In the summer of 2022 we recruited our first two Trainees, Catrin and Joe. Our traineeship is a six-month voluntary position for young people in Radnorshire, gaining work-based experience in the conservation sector, developing skills skills and knowledge of estates management, biological surveying, and community engagement.
Since then we have recruited a steady intake of new trainees every few months: Beth in February 2023, Lexie in March, Rachel in June, Jake in July, H in October, Dan in December, Rhodri & Thea in April 2024, & Sam in May 2024.
Three of our trainees have moved into employment, including Catrin and Joe who are working as Youth Engagement Officers at Radnorshire Wildlife Trust. Two are starting university in September 2024 to begin studying Marine Biology, and three will return to university are spending time gaining work experience with the trust.
Trainees visit to Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre
Youth Action Group
Our 9-14 Youth Action Group met fortnightly between 2021 and 2024, with an average of 15 regular members. Our sessions focused on getting young people outside and enjoying nature; surveying nature, planting trees, toad patrolling, and getting interviewed about nature for the BBC are just a few of the activities we got up to!
Every year, the five Wildlife Trusts in Wales came together to for a Youth Summit; an opportunity for the young people involved in the project from across Wales to get meet one another, and celebrate the achievements of the previous 12-months.
The three Youth Summits, one in North, Mid and South Wales, involved a mix of fun activities and activism. In 2022 we produced the Youth Manifesto for Wales, which highlighted the biggest concerns of young Welsh people, and was taken by The Wildlife Trusts CEO, Craig Bennett, to COP15. Out of this manifesto, the largest concern was pesticide use, leading to the creation of the Pesticide Free Campaign, asking people to pledge to go pesticide-free to help our wildlife
(C) Andy Charles-O'Callaghan
Schools
We created habitat on school grounds, ran educational sessions on wildlife and climate change in primary and high schools across Radnorshire. We helped and facilitated youth-led improvements of green spaces in eleven schools, creating areas young people can use, while creating vital habitat for wildlife.
We have taken school groups up to our flagship reserve Gilfach, looking at the amazing wildlife on the site, searching the fields and oak woods for invertebrate and keeping eyes and ears open for birds.
It was a fabulous day of active learning, exploration and being awed by nature... it all meant so much and the children will never forget it!
