Issue 68: June 2011 - Youth Work Ireland

Teenage Perspectives 2011A report on the needs and youth service provisionfor young people in County Monaghanby Melissa MackinBackgroundYouth Work Ireland Monaghan’s Monaghan PeaceCafé Project in partnership with the Youth OutreachInformation and Training Service undertook a surveycalled “Teenage Perspectives 2011”. The survey andreport describes the findings completed by youngpeople in the county of their needs and issuesaffecting them. A survey like this under the samename had been done in 1998 but the Peace Caféproject felt that although the report was invaluablethe information was outdated and that currentinformation about what is available to young peopleand what their opinion was would be helpful.Purpose of the ResearchThis piece of research was devised in order to gainan in‐depth insight into the needs of young peoplein County Monaghan, with particular emphasis onyoung people’s view on the peace process and theirinteraction with people from different cultures andcommunities. The research also looks at therecreational needs of young people, services andfacilities available to young people and theconsumption habits of young people around alcohol,nicotine and other drugs.The findings have been put together and can be usedby a variety of organisations, schools, youth orcommunity groups to use as a reference to developinitiatives specifically designed for young people inCounty Monaghan. It is a particularly usefuldocument for the Peace programmes andorganisations delivering elements of the Peaceprogramme as they can see a snapshot of whatyoung people think, and see what some of thecompeting pressures are on young people.Research MethodologyThe survey was drafted with major input from youngpeople and an asset based approach was adoptedwithin the survey, meaning that the survey would askyoung people what they wanted and what positivethings they had to contribute to their communityrather than telling them what they needed andhighlighting the negative aspects of young people.So within the survey young people were asked if theyhave any skills/talents they want to put to use in theircommunity, and there was a “Getting Involved Form”attached which was handed out separately for theyoung people to fill in their contact details, if theywish to get involved in their community. The surveytargeted young people between the ages of 12‐25through various means. Primarily they were surveyedthrough second level schools, but they were alsodistributed in youth clubs, youth projects, librariesand youth information centres. The surveys wereadministered in March; the data from the completed1,133 surveys was collated in May.Research FindingsThe findings found that young people in CountyMonaghan are involved in multiple activities in theirarea and have interests that span sports, music andthe Internet including social networking and YouTube. Despite being involved in many clubs andIrish Youth Work Scene 3 Issue 68, June 2011