We have been working with Officers from Education Services and Youth Support Services from Carmarthenshire County Council on Period Poverty. It is such an important issue that affects so many women and young girls; one in ten girls aged 14-21 living in the UK are unable to afford sanitary items.

We were shocked when we learnt about that statistic and even more shocked when we learnt how some young girls stay at home from school due to not having adequate protection whilst on their period. This is why we decided to start the Period Poverty project to ensure no girls have their right to education compromised whilst being on their period, and equally as important, our attitudes need to change; we need stop the feeling of shame and embarrassment surrounding a girl’s “time of the month”.  Working with staff from the County Council we have been involved in gathering the views of young people and voicing our onions to make sure a Welsh Government Grant given to all local authorities in Wales is spent in the best possible way.

“We are so excited to be leading the Carmarthenshire Period Poverty project as it is such an important issue. It is heart-breaking to hear about stories where girls are missing out on education due to not having sufficient protection whilst on their period so it is clear something needs to be done. I hope that this project does make a difference within Carmarthenshire so we can come one step closer to ending period poverty once and for all!”

How people in Carmarthenshire are benefiting…

So you may be wondering what we will actually do with this project To help you out, here are some commonly asked questions with our answers:

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
We have given a box full of products and extra supplies to a wide range of services, organisations, youth projects and businesses across the county. In the boxes there are a variety of sanitary products which can be taken for FREE when needed. These products are FREE to improve access to essential eco-friendly tampons, pads and reusable sanitary products for those who need them in our communities.

HOW ARE YOU PAYING FOR ALL THESE PRODUCTS?
Since 2019 we have been very fortunate to receive over £13,000 from Carmarthenshire County Council as part of a wider Period Dignity Grant given to them each year from Welsh Government.

HOW CAN I GET FREE PRODUCTS?
Products are available in over 50 locations with colleges, businesses, services and orgnaisations who have kindly supported the project from across the county. Also, every Primary, Secondary and Special School in Carmarthenshire has benefited from the Period Dignity Grant and are able to provide young people with the products needed.

If you are able to support young girls by providing free sanitary products please download and print a copy of our information poster.

HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?
If you are an organisation, service or business that can support the project by providing access to or distributing products to our communities then we would like to hear from you so please get in touch and you can contact us on Contact us on info@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

HOW CAN I RECOGNIZE YOUR PROJECT?
Keep an eye out for our #PeriodPovertySirGâr Knickers logo on posters, promotional items, social media and more importantly if you see it on a toilet cubical door it means there are free products there for you to use… no hassle, no fuss and no questions.

CAN I RECEIVE UPDATES ON YOUR WORK?
We will regularly be posting updates on our social media pages so make sure you follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to stay aware with what is happening. You can also join in the conversation on social media by using #PeriodPovertySirGâr

FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information or if you are interested in getting involved then please contact the Participation and Childrens Rights Team on 01267 246435 or on info@carmarthenshire.gov.uk We hope to see your support with our project and so that together we can tackle period poverty for once and for all in Carmarthenshire!

Article by Freya and Amber

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During the #TakeOver Days Youth Councillors had the opportunity to meet councillors and council staff and to ask questions of the various departments and services they visited. Shadowing County Councillors was a very interesting experience. It enabled us to gain an insight on a day in the life of a member of Carmarthenshire County Council’s executive board.

We hope that the Election of Themed Officers will help strengthen the links and relationships between us and the council’s executive board, making sure that children and young people have access to their rights and that they are visible in the work and decision made by the County Council.

Themed Officers were elected at our AGM and a programme of accredited training from the British Youth Council Local Councillor Shadowing Award will be made available to successful candidate by the County Council Participation and Childrens Right Team.

Officers will stand for 2 years as we are keen to make a real difference in our local communities and I think this is a great opportunity to share our concerns and aspirations with local leaders.

The award nationally accredits young people’s achievement and we hope that by engaging with young people in this way, Carmarthenshire County Council Councillors will be exposed to young people’s genuine enthusiasm to learn and get a better understanding and involvement in local democracy.We hope to work with the Executive Board in the coming months to develop a two year plan identifying what opportunities would be made available to Themed Officers, such as attending Councillor Surgeries, Full Council Meetings, Visits and Tours etc.

We do hope that this developed is something that is welcomed by the Executive Board as we are looking forward to working closer with them to make sure children and young people will be involved in local decisions that impact on their lives and will have the opportunity through the Youth Council to have their voices listed to on any issues that are concerning them.

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Gwen Griffiths who is our UKYP (UK Youth Parliament) member and she is the one who approached Counsellor Glynog Davies with the motion of putting forward the ’Votes@16’ campaign that lets young people vote on issues that impact themselves on a social and political level and how it would change their lives.

As the UKYP Representative for Carmarthenshire, Gwen was tasked with spreading awareness of the campaign over the course of a year which involved getting the support of young people to have their say on the campaign.

On behalf of Gwen and her colleagues at Carmarthenshire Youth Council Counsellor Glynog Davies, Executive Board Member for Education and Children’s Services submitted a Notice of Motion to the Full Council asking that the Full Council to considered the that members support Carmarthenshire Youth Council’s Campaign to see the voting age be reduced from the current age 18 to 16, for all public elections.

The Votes at 16 campaign was the first Notice of Motion to be submitted to Full Council in Carmarthenshire that was initiated by a young person and as such a big achievement for those involved, about this Gwen said “I’m really happy to see that the hard and dedicated work of the Carmarthenshire Youth Council has paid off and the motion has passed through with support from Carmarthenshire County Council… It was a really good experience meeting with local decision makers to raise awareness of such an important issue and seeing how much support that the campaign is gaining.”

Votes at 16 has been an active issue for some time and will continue into 2018/19 as again it has been voted by the UK Youth Parliament as their top priority and is their national campaign for this current year.

You can keep up with the work the CYC is doing for the UKYP campaign for Votes at 16 by following @Youth_Sirgar on Twitter and/or Youthsirgar on Facebook.

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CHILDREN’S RIGHTS COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR SCHEME 
We are now involved in the Children’s Rights Community Ambassador Scheme and we are so excited to have to opportunity to get involved and spread the word about Children’s Rights! It’s the first time for us to have Ambassadors. 

This scheme is run by the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, who is Sally Holland. Sally’s job is to tell people why Children’s Rights are so important, and to look at how the decisions made by public bodies in Wales, including Welsh Government, affect Children’s Rights.

When it was announced in our monthly meeting that there would be the opportunity for some members to become Community Children’s Rights Ambassadors I knew it was something I wanted to get involved with. I feel that Children’s Rights is such an important topic so it’s great that Sally Holland has started this Ambassador Scheme. By becoming an ambassador I hope to raise awareness of children’s rights to children and young people across Carmarthenshire. Furthermore, I hope to gain more knowledge on Children’s Rights myself as I would love to broaden my understanding. I am now one of Carmarthenshire’s First Children’s Rights Ambassadors which is such an amazing opportunity and also a great privilege. I cannot wait to see what this scheme holds for not only myself but Carmarthenshire.

SO SOME OF YOU MAY BE WONDERING WHAT ARE CHILDREN’S RIGHTS?

Hopefully throughout the scheme, with support from Carmarthenshire Participation and Childrens Rights Team our Community Ambassadors will be doing work around raising awareness of Children’s Rights so more children and young people are informed and have a greater understanding, but until then here is a brief description of children’s rights. 

Children need special rights because they need extra protection that adults don’t, that is why the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was made. The UNCRC has a list of 52 articles in total and 42 of these are rights for children. The other 10 are articles on how adults and governments should work together in order to ensure children can access their rights.

OUR ROLE AS AMBASSADORS
As community ambassadors we will have three main jobs and these are:
• Tell others about Children’s Rights
• Tell others about Sally and the Children’s Commissioner’s Team
• Be a voice for the Children’s Commissioner on the ground and to feed in to her work by completing missions (each term) where we will be speaking to other children and young people to gather their views on a wide range of issues important to them 

DO YOU WANT TO BE AN AMBASSADOR FOR CARMARTHENSHIRE?
We are all looking forward to starting our work as ambassadors as raising awareness about children’s rights is something that as a Youth Council we feel passionate about! If you are 11 – 24 years old we have opportunities for you to be involved as Childrens Rights Ambassadors so if this is something you would like to do then please get in touch or be sure to follow us on our social media so you can keep up to date with all our work we will be doing!

Also for more information on the Children’s Commissioner for Wales you can visit the website: www.childcomwales.org.uk 

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Taking part in the consultation gave Carmarthenshire Youth Councillors the opportunity to help to shape the future of the Youth Parliament while learning about the function of a Welsh Youth Parliament and its importance for helping to amplify young people’s voices to help change issues that we care about.

During the workshop run by Kelly Harris, Youth Engagement Office for the National Assembly for Wales we had the opportunity to say what we think about the new Youth Parliament, express and share our opinions and put forward ideas.

Although young people under the age of 18 are unable to vote in democratic elections in Wales, a Youth Parliament will campaign and debate on their behalf.

CYC Member Liam Flynn said “I believe that the setting up of the new Welsh Youth Parliament is brilliant as it will let young people from Carmarthenshire participate in politics on a National level and give all young people in Wales a voice in decisions which will affect us all.”

The consultation finished on 30th June 2017 but if you want to follow the story of the new Youth Parliament for Wales, then you can get more information by visiting the National Assembly for Wales

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By getting the Promise signed we hope that it will ensure the council meets minimum standards when making decisions that affect our lives as Children & Young People. Brittany Alsop-Bingham, our chairperson, along with Leader Cllr Emlyn Dole, Education Executive Board Member Cllr Gareth Jones, Chief Executive Mark James, Director for Education and Children’s Services Rob Sully all signed the Promise to celebrate Children’s Rights Day on 20th November 2016.

Carmarthenshire County Council has made listening to children and young people one of it’s priorities, this has included setting up a new Participation and Children’s Rights team, to help children and young people have a say and change the way we are set up to make sure more young people can become members and take part.

If you’re interested in becoming a part of the Youth Council (CYC) or have an issue that you want to let us know about, please contact us.

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