Children's Gallery

Every month we invite you into one of the projects that we support to show you exactly where your funds go and to hear the voice of the children who benefit from the project. This month we visit the Headliner Foyle Project which works with vulnerable children in Derry. In June 2008 the Irish youth Foundation awarded €3160 (£2500) to the Headliners project.

About the project
This project took place in an area where there is a high level of deprivation and social exclusion. The project involved Catholics, Protestants, newly arrived immigrants and young people from an ethnic minority background.

The focus of the project was on disabled young people who often display high levels of emotional and behavioral problems. Their needs are many including poor self esteem, low levels of oral and written communication skills, poor motivation and low levels of essential life skills. Those with disabilities experience higher rates of bullying and hate crime.

Who took part and what did it achieve?
The project involved 25 disabled and disadvantaged young people in a programme that helped them learn though journalism. The program lasted 20 weeks, meeting once a week and produced five stories for broadcast and publication.

Project 1: 22 young people participated
The children produced front pages for newspapers focused on the theme of every child’s right to have a family. The project held an exhibition at the Void Art Gallery in Derry and a two page spread was published in Off the Wall magazine to display this work.

Project 2:  14 Young People Participated:
Ability not Disability
These young people produced a story on how the media needs to focus on ability and not disability. The object of the project was to highlight the voice of young people with learning disabilities- and the message was that everyone matters regardless of their culture, age and ability!

‘Giving us equal rights is what you can do. Sometimes I feel we are not listened to but we are listened to during this project. I hope that from this project, people who don’t have a home will have a home’.  Jamie-project participant

Outcome
The young people from the Headliner  project who worked with disabled young people admitted that until they took part in this project, they did not look at the person behind the learning difficulty and they had very little knowledge of how learning difficulties affected people’s lives. As a result of the project they want to influence the media to get more voices of young people with disabilities published and broadcast.