Young Evaluators join Friends of The Earth to make People, Planet, Place Focus Group a Success

Two of our young evaluators, Inioluwa Olaosebikan and Matt McLean, recently joined their peers from Friends of the Earth under a willow tree in the Gardens of St Columbus Park House, as part of the People, Planet and Place project. This project aims to increase the advocacy skills, confidence and wellbeing of participants. By developing participants confidence in creating personal and professional connections, advocating for themselves, and their community, these young people are more equipped to take action on the environment. As such, the project also encouraged participants to think about what the environment meant to them, explore environmental issues that they were unaware of and gain confidence in the skills they learned.

In particular, People, Planet, Place also provides the opportunity for young people who are marginalised to get involved and in doing do so, empower them and improve their mental health. Among the themes and benefits that the young people discussed in the group were community, improved academic abilities, knowledge about the environment, friendships, empowerment and a toolkit of skills as an activist.  

This meeting represented a special moment to us all at Politics in Action and the result of years of hard work. As part of our role as external evaluators for Friend's of the Earth, it is our job to be a critical friend. Tony Gallagher and Anosha Gehani are just two of our amazing volunteers helping us to skill up a dozen other young people, who we are paying to help us evaluate the work of client organisations.

We have also been grateful for the support from the Rank Foundation. Our colleague Kerry Fitzsimons plays a key role in data and evaluation with help from the Time to Shine programme while our Executive Director, Paul Smyth has benefited from mentoring and support from the training on Profit for Good. We are excited to be attending the Rank Conference this week to present our Young Evaluator model to other community organisations!  

The Young Evaluators Project is made possible through the National Lottery Awards for All fund, with support from the Rank Foundation and the Ireland Funds.

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