Nick Brereton, Investing in Children Co-ordinator, says on behalf of the project that "money and decisions about money are the root of power". Using this logic, Newcastle City Council branded a pilot project U Decide offering a radical approach to community empowerment. The project allocated a pot of public money to children and young people in Newcastle, and gave them the opportunity to get involved in deciding how it
was spent.

“The project has opened doors to involvement in powerful processes” 

The inclusive process involved children aged from three to 19, from a wide variety of backgrounds and geographical areas of the city. £120,000 was made available from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund for five rounds of funding.

More than 2,000 children and young people were involved with the rounds of the project, helping to influence ideas for events, and once the events had been clarified, voting from one to 10 for each idea presented. Throughout the project the organisers creatively kept young people and children the main focus, with voting days consisting of games and goody bags. Maggie McKenna, on behalf of the U Decide team, says: "Children and young people have chosen to fund the projects they wanted. Votes have revealed a thoughtful, altruistic approach, with the most disadvantaged young people often receiving
strong support."

The Kids Can Choose strand was integral to a successful Big Lottery bid, which generated more than £1m for play in Newcastle over three years. Other supported projects ranged from samba drums for a special school and a play area at a project for homeless families, to kit for a boys' and girls' boxing club and trim tracks at a number of schools.

The implementation of a small group of three to four-year-olds to work with a nursery teacher to design, budget and order an outdoor area for babies at Walkergate Children's Centre was a huge success.

The project has opened doors to involvement in powerful processes and demonstrated to decision-makers that young people can act wisely. The project co-ordinators say; "The range of presentations and the work that children and young people in particular have put into them has been both powerful and moving for adults to observe, and highly empowering for the children involved."

A U decide participant, aged 9, says: "It's good to let children decide how to spend public money. If it's just adults, we won't get what we need."

Project Highlights

• To include young people, material must be tailored to suit them. For example, U Decide created publications in bright colours that use plain language, and electronic voting was used at events for instant results;
  
• Empowering children and young people in decisions on how money is spent can make a real difference to communities.

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