Great Northern Youth Voices is a documentary-making project providing training for young people currently Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET), developing new skills and enhancing existing ones. It is a project for the YouTube generation focused on giving a voice to young people.

Building on a successful bid to Awards for All which provided the funds for professional quality film-making kit and a series of pilot workshops, this project is establishing a film-production team and making a series of documentaries. At the close of 2011 we were delighted to obtain follow-on funds from The Dulverton Trust which has enabled us to continue to offer film workshops to disadvantaged young people into 2012.

The project builds on the success of Living in a Changing World, a film-making project for young people not in employment, education or training, held in 2010 and on the 2009 workshop Don't Shout at the Telly North East.

Participants are encouraged to formulate their own thoughts social and environmental issues through exposure to expert and lay opinion and knowledge. Critical reflection on what part their generation may play in ensuring a better future is a key element of the process. A series of documentaries capturing the reflections of participants and those in their communities on the realities they face will be produced, given a public première and published online.

The project has been developed by The Great Debate in partnership with North East Centre for Transformative Education and Research (NECTER), a network recognised by the United Nations as a Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) in Education for Sustainable Development that brings people together in partnership at the regional level to promote better access to quality education, social justice, and an improved quality of life.

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