Peer Action Collective Plymouth Team wins Gamechanger award for their inspiring work to make Plymouth a safer, fairer place.
In partnership with Co-op, the Gamechanger Awards are a celebration of the inspiring work of the Peer Action Collective (PAC); a ground-breaking network of young people, working to conduct research and use it to make change in their local communities.
In December, young researchers came together at a Peer Action Collective event held in Liverpool, to share what they learnt so far about violence – and about what needs to change to make their communities fairer places.
At this event, ten inspiring young people and projects won Gamechanger Awards for their incredible commitment to ending violence; and we’re proud to announce that the Peer Action Collective Plymouth team won one of the first ever Gamechanger Awards, for ‘Best Teamwork Winner 2022’ in recognition of their work as part of the Peer Action Collective.
Peer Action Collective Plymouth was presented with the award for ‘Best Teamwork’, which was in partnership with Co-op at the Peer Action Collective Conference in Liverpool on 8 December 2022, in front of an audience of local leaders and other young researchers.
Gamechanger Awards exist to celebrate the work of incredible young people and projects, who are part of Peer Action Collective; a ground-breaking new youth-led network, which is funded by the Youth Endowment Fund, the #iwill Fund (a joint investment between The National Lottery Community Fund and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) and Co-op. Through the Peer Action Collective programme, over 120 peer researchers have listened to young people; recording their experiences of violence and finding out what needs to happen to make their area a better place to live. They’ve also been working with local partners to turn what they’ve learned into action.
From working to improve police-youth relations, setting up a youth centre or campaigning for changes in the education system – the Peer Action Collective has been creating opportunities for young people to make their community a safer, fairer place.
Rebecca Birkbeck, Director of Community and Shared Value at Co-op said:
“All too often, young people’s voices aren’t heard, and this has to change. But change won’t happen if young people aren’t at the heart of it.”
Co-op is hugely proud of the achievements of Peer Action Collective, and send congratulations to the Peer Action Collective Plymouth team having been recognised for embracing an innovative way of researching, giving young people the chance to take the lead, shaping the solutions they want to see to create a safer, fairer world for not only themselves, but for future generations.
Phil Chamberlain, England Director of Strategy, Partnerships and Engagement at The National Lottery Community Fund, said:
“The work of the #iwill Fund has had an incredible impact on young people, supporting them to speak up and have their voices heard about the things that matter most to them.
By placing young people at the forefront of this initiative we are providing them with a platform to share their experiences to help inspire positive, lasting change in their communities. The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to youth voice and the Peer Action Collective is enabling us to build on our ongoing work with young people to further understand and inform how to best support them now and in the future.”
Want to find out more about the Peer Action Collective? Visit our PAC webpage, to read all about our project! We are currently looking for 10-20 year olds to become Changemakers, and local businesses and authority figures to sign our Professional Pledge.
Visit the Co-op’s website to find out more about their work with young people.
