YouthLink Scotland Annual Report 2022/23

Within these pages is our dedication to the youth work sector and young people, showcasing the resilience of the national agency and the youth workers we support. It’s a report of positive partnerships, ongoing training and development, impact and influence, powerful networks, successful programmes, and above all, an ongoing commitment to Scotland’s young people through a vibrant youth work sector. 

YouthLink Scotland’s CEO, Tim Frew gives us an overview of the year:

Welcome to our annual report for 2022/2023. At YouthLink Scotland our vision is for a Scotland where young people realise their full potential through youth work, and we cannot possibly make any progress towards that vision, without the support of a vibrant youth work sector. A big thank you to youth workers across Scotland who have continued to deliver quality youth work in what has been another tough year for young people, coming out of the pandemic and straight into a cost-of-living crisis.  

YouthLink Scotland retains a strong reputation with the sector and government agencies and continues to play a key role in representation. We have been pleased to see sustained commitment to the delivery of a National Youth Work Strategy, notwithstanding changes at ministerial level following the First Minister’s resignation.  A new strategy is now anticipated to follow the delivery of education and skills policies.  

A key aspect of our role as the national agency is to make the connections that create impact. Hopefully, you will get a snapshot of that throughout the report, but one or two things I wanted to highlight are listed below: 

• We have strengthened many of our partnerships with public bodies and introduced new networks. For example, a new United Voices Network was established to promote and influence anti-racist youth work practice in the sector with the support from Corra.  
• We have successfully advocated for increased investment and partnered with government to deliver key funding streams. 
• We have produced quality publications on key policy areas such as child poverty, education reform and employability, including our research report on youth work’s role during Covid-19.  
• We led a sector-wide development to refresh the National Youth Work Outcomes and the embedded Youth Work Skills Framework which will greatly enhance our measurement of impact. 
• We raised the profile of youth work in Scotland internationally contributing to several conferences, including the Council of Europe Symposium on Youth Work in Hungary.  
• We have continued to deliver and adapt many national projects and programmes, such as No Knives Better Lives, Action on Prejudice, #IWill, YouthViP, Action on Sectarianism and the award-winning Scotland’s Young People’s Forest. 
• We conducted research into positive masculinity and published the ‘Imagine a Man’ report and toolkit.  

As we look forward with advances in digitalisation, education reform and public health, we know that a vibrant modern youth work sector co-designed with young people will be essential. Young people need youth work now more than ever as they seek to navigate some of the damaging impact caused by poverty and inequality.

YouthLink Scotland will continue to work tirelessly with the sector, and all partners, in order that all young people have access to high quality youth work for 2023/24 and beyond.