A new set of tools has been launched, designed to support youth work organisations to make ethical alliances with technology companies. The toolset is free to use, and the tools are presented as both pdfs and word files, so that you can select and adapt the elements that will work for you.
The purpose of the toolset is to help to build positive ethical partnerships that work for both youth work organisations and technology companies. The launch event focused on the Getting Started Guide and the Unique Value Blueprint, exploring questions that helped the youth work organisations to consider the value of their offer to a technology company.
YouthLink Scotland commissioned the project, working closely with Alex Hutchison of ForrData, with support and funding from the Include Plus Network.
“Tech partnerships aren’t just “another private sector partnership” – they come with different stakes. Because children and young people are living through an unprecedented wave of datafication and digitalisation, partnering with tech can feel more relevant (and more complicated) than partnering with other private sector organisations. Done well, these partnerships can open up opportunities beyond funding: digital skills, literacy, access to mentors, and pathways into emerging careers. Interestingly, money wasn’t always the headline in my conversations with youth organisations, due to the variety of ways that a partnership with technology organisations can support youth work practice. In practice, this means don’t start the conversation with “what can you give us?” but with “what shared purpose could exist here”, and how can it benefit young people in real, concrete ways.” Alex Hutchison, ForrData.
Speaking at the launch event on 6th May, Liz Green, Workforce and Practice Manager said:
“Now at a time when youth work, both in the public and third sector is looking more strongly to diversify funding and build corporate partnerships, and the tech sector needs to demonstrate its social value and has a solid ‘tech for good’ element, many organisations are hoping to partner and need support and guidance. Guidance to partner ethically, to address power imbalances and, critically, to put young people’s voices, experiences, protection and empowerment at the centre.
“So we have been delighted to work on this Include+ fellowship, which has given us the opportunity to explore, learn and co-create something to test. These tools are not a magic bullet, but they give us something concrete to lean into, to test in practice and to scaffold our conversations, particularly the difficult ones.”
The next phase is to get the new resources into use.
If you are interested in using the tools and feeding in to further development, we would love to hear from you.