About Politics in Action

About

About PiA

Making a difference and holding those in power to account

PiA believes in a world where children and young people are involved and engaged in decisions that impact their lives, the lives of their communities, and the wider world.

We want to support young people to have a real impact on issues they care about.

PiA acts as a platform and conduit to amplify the voices of young people through active collaboration with politicians, activists, and high-profile partners.

Through learning, knowledge sharing, and nurturing the skills required to discuss important issues constructively, PiA supports young people to be actively engaged citizens, creating a more equitable, inclusive political landscape.

Projects

Six things that are present in everything we do

From supporting youth led campaigns to growing our team, 6 principles inform every action we take.

Equity

Not everyone starts from the same point or has the same resources or access. At Politics in Action we want young people to be able to take the issues they care about to those in power regardless of their background or identity.

Partnership

We love to collaborate. We are a small organisation and the impact of our work is amplified by working with others who share our values. We work with some amazing schools, youth work partners and youth led initiatives.

Kindness

We believe that everyone must be treated with kindness and respect. It's fine to disagree and debate, but we want to do so in a way that is respectful and that encourages listening and growth.

Diversity

Everyone is welcome at PiA. Through respectful listening and discussion, we see the value in every perspective and experience, adding to our understanding of the world around us. No one of us has a single identity, and our sense of identity changes through time, experiences, and engagement with others. Diversity enriches all of us.

Reconciliation

At heart, we are a peace organisation. We seek to address the legacy of conflict in our communities and society, and encourage and support young people from different backgrounds to work together on common concerns. A generation on from an historic peace agreement, many difficult issues remain and we need to find new ways of working on the issues together.

Fun

We think learning is better when we are enjoying working together and having fun. We work hard to ensure that young people are working on issues that matter to them and that they are enjoying working with others to achieve shared goals.

Projects

Our Story

The idea

Politics in Action was founded by former BBC and Discovery Executive, Peter Weil. Peter hails from Northern Ireland but spent most of his career working as Head of Youth Programmes, BBC Northern Ireland, Head of Topical Features, BBC Network and General Manager, Animal Planet International. He was also CEO of CTVC, which is part of the Rank Foundation. He established PiA on an entirely voluntary basis and ran and developed the organisation for four years. The organisation was developed to support his belief that young people should have their voices heard at the heart of Government.

The First Partnership

In 2018, the first school partnership between St Dominic' Grammar School for Girls in Belfast and Friends’ School Lisburn was established. Peter invited some incredible people to form our first board and allow Politics in Action to apply for funding. Early support from the Rank Foundation and the David Cross Young People's Fund allowed us to grow our network of schools. Our accountant John Magee provided fantastic support to Peter's voluntary commitment.

The Pandemic

In Spring 2020, PiA had to adapt fast to the challenges of an unfolding pandemic – working with our funders and school partners, we ensured that we could continue to work with young people in clusters of schools virtually, whether they were in school or at home.

A series of ‘Town Hall’ sessions allowed us to bring high-profile speakers to a greater number of young people and schools, including; Deputy First Minister Michele O’Neill, DUP Leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, Education Minister Peter Weir (now Lord Weir), UUP Leader Doug Beattie, Alliance Party Leader and Justice Minister Naomi Long, SDLP leader Colm Eastwood MP and (then) Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.

The Investment

Funding from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs (Reconciliation Fund) and then the National Lottery Community Fund in 2021 allowed us to continue and develop our work in local cross community clusters involving over 25 schools. In partnership with Start 360, we worked with Castle Tower School in Ballymena, supporting students with additional learning needs.

The First Employee

We hired our first Executive Director – Dr. Patricia O’Lynn - in November 2021, and Peter retired at the end of December 2021. Patricia worked on developing our practice model and plans for the future. She left in May 2022 to pursue her political career, and was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Charity

In February 2022 the organisation became a charity registered with the Northern Ireland Charity Commission.

The Consolidation

Paul Smyth became our second Executive Director in June 2022, bringing his extensive experience of active citizenship and good relations work in schools and youth work settings to help us think about the next stages of our development. He has been building a more robust organisation, managing a rebrand with young people, and working with the Board to clarify our vision and values for the years ahead.

Our Treasurer Antoinette Burke and freelance Finance Manager, Colleen Thompson have worked hard to get our finances into top shape as we work with our funders and identify new sources of support

The New Home

In September 2022, we moved into our first office at Mediation House in Belfast. Funding from the International Fund for Ireland allowed us to establish a cross-border partnership between Portadown College in Co. Armagh with Loreto College in Milford, Donegal.

This allowed us to hire our second staff member Dr. Thérèse Cullen who had previously worked as one of our freelance facilitators. In December, we also hired Catherine Kilgallen as Office Administrator.

The Future

In January 2023, Ireland Funds, Heart of the Community grant supports a young person-centred evaluation project, where young people are trained as evaluators and will be actively involved in collecting information to demonstrate the impact of our work.

On 18 April we will be part of the incredible events at Queen's University to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement - bringing 250 young people to share their ideas for the future.

We have exciting plans for the year ahead, with details to follow. If we have missed something important on this timeline, please tell us as we are keen to continue developing it as our story unfolds. Check back too - there are many exciting things in our future!

Teams