Youth Council Application

• You are expected to attend four formal meetings across the year minimum. We aim to meet in person but you can also join online.
• As a Youth Council member you will be given many opportunities including – helping to plan and run conservation events, representing youth voices at important meetings, and creating engaging and educational social media content to help spread awareness of our campaigns.
• You will be joining a team where you can give and receive support from other Youth Council members, work together to learn, campaign, take part in practical conservation days, and give valuable group feedback to staff on plans for our organisation's work.
• You will be expected to undertake some tasks by yourself but you will never be alone in these – you will have full support from our staff and your fellow Youth Council members always.
• You will have the opportunity to connect with other youth groups across the North West and nationally.

Not only will you get to see how a conservation charity works from the inside out, but you’ll also get access to training including safeguarding, writing funding bids, and leadership training. You’ll also be offered several opportunities to improve your confidence, get your name out there and appear on regional and national radio, TV, and at events. All are fantastic experiences and the transferable skills that you gain could help you when applying for jobs or other volunteering opportunities.

• To attend a minimum of four formal meetings a year (in person or online).
• To uphold Lancashire Wildlife Trust's core values.
• Represent young people’s voices and opinions.
• Reach out to local communities and engage them within our work.
• Be kind and respect all values and opinions.
• Be prepared to dedicate time to taking part in Youth Council activities.
• We do not expect knowledge of nature, climate, or conservation to be on our Youth Council only the passion to learn and take part in activities to help nature.
• Be professional and at times respect confidentiality.
• Be a member of the Youth Council for one whole year.

• A ‘get stuck in’ attitude and excellent communication. Especially If you are unable to attend a meeting, or the Youth Voice Officer needs feedback on something.

At The Wildlife Trust’s we work together to protect land and sea, tackling the nature and climate crisis head-on. We put nature’s recovery at the heart of everything we do. We are currently working towards the protection of 30% of land and sea by 2030 which is one of our core campaigns . 

There are six formal meetings a year, each lasting around five hours with breaks and lunch included. There is additional work to do outside of meetings, as well as chances to speak at events, run your own events, and get involved in ad-hoc radio, tv, and newspaper interviews.

There are busier times of the year but on average we would expect you to commit around four hours a month on top of the formal meetings.

There are six formal in-person meetings over the year at Lancashire Wildlife Trust sites and the dates will be published at the start of the year, so you have plenty of notice. Meetings will mainly take place at our Brockholes Nature Reserve or at Mere Sands Woods, however, these may change.

The role includes providing a youth perspective on the work of the Trust, this can be anything from working on the campaign plan, to scrntinising our ED&I policy to hosting or attending events on behalf of the Trust . Previous Youth Council members have attended the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, spoken on BBC radio, attended, and put on events across the region, contributed to the Trust’s quarterly membership magazine, hosted Instagram takeovers, and met with politicians. We understand that not everyone will want to do all the above, so you have control over what you do and don’t want to do.

The meetings are published at the start of the year, so we do give you plenty of notice and expect you to come. If you can’t make it, you will need to let the Youth Voice Officer know and arrange a time to catch up to make sure that you haven’t missed anything!

You don’t need any specific skills, or any prior experience either sitting on a board or in conservation nor do you need any type of qualifications.

You just need access to a device with the internet and a willingness to get stuck in!

No, this is a volunteer role, however, we will pay your travel expenses to get to each meeting or event.