The Boys' Brigade in Somerset

2 Draft
Terms of Reference
Youth United (‘West of England City Region’)
An alliance of uniformed youth organisations

Purpose

The purpose of the Youth United in the West of England is to promote and facilitate collaboration between the kindred organisations of this alliance to magnify the efficiency of their activities and their effect/impact on young people in the West of England. Senior representatives of these organisations meet several times a year to discuss and co-ordinate their collaboration.

Remit of Youth United in the West of England

To achieve its purpose Youth United in the West of England will improve youth opportunities and outcomes by:

encouraging and facilitating appropriate interactions on shared goals and reducing unnecessary duplication for mutual benefit between the organisations in our alliance so that efficiencies and synergies are achieved (for example through enabling sharing of infrastructure, knowledge/expertise, systems, resources etc).

enhancing our collective public visibility (including awareness/understanding of our impact) and by increasing our influence over key decision makers and opinion formers who can affect our work and in order to maximise positive conditions for it including greater support and resources for growing and developing our provision/activities.

as a priority, working to address volunteer shortages and to expand the total number of volunteers across the organisations in our alliance (including by: promoting volunteering opportunities and positive public perception of them, and by sharing developments/innovations in volunteering research/knowledge, recruitment including targeted approaches to specific segments, retention, relationship management, and the design of volunteering experiences).

working to overcome barriers to involvement, promote inclusion and share best practice in ensuring our provision/services reflect the makeup of the communities we serve and reach all who can benefit;

providing a mechanism for mobilising and co-ordinating (where necessary, rapidly) our collective resources to respond appropriately to relevant community challenges affecting young people and all those we serve.




Principles
We will:
Be stronger, more efficient and have even more impact if we can work together more effectively on our mutual goals
Be recognised as ambitious, innovative and challenging in pursuing our collective interests
Lead by example by involving young people in shaping the Youth United West of England and by being highly responsive to their needs and aspirations
Seek to reflect the communities we serve and promote inclusion by example
Recognise and respect the different strengths and distinctive contributions of our organisations
Adopt behaviours and ways of working that support mutual collaboration, openness and trust between our organisations