Ava Harris

• Developed my experiences and gained skills in many areas including team work, event planning, connecting with local community and communication skills.
• Helped secure funding through support of youth leaders to create short term projects for the committee to link into the community.
• Encouraged friends and peers to join and promoted growth of the committee.
• Took part in community projects- litter picks, fundraising events for local charities and marking annual events such as World Kindness Day by distributing little bags of happiness.
• Aided in planning, organising and facilitating of annual youth club events during Easter, Halloween and Christmas.
• Helped with countless one off events such as Tea and Talks, Women's Centre Easter Event, Parent Engagement Events. This helped develop my people skills, learnt budget management and post event evaluations.
• Took part in a number of local murals in city promotion and worked with UV Arts, Bogside Artists as well as Eden Place Arts Centre.
• Visited the Foyle Hospice and to local care homes as part of community engagement. Met with patients and spent time getting to know the roles of the staff.
• Worked closely with organisations such as Hive (Formerly known as Pink Ladies) and Fairtrade
• Completed a programme with Fairtrade including a mural and took part in a short promotion video.
• Built connections while giving back to local community
• Millennium Forum with EA to re-write policies and have our voices heard in relation to their services for us.
• Met with EA members and visited the Department of Education to meet policy makers as part of social action to create better work practices for us as youth.
• Took part in the 'Write for Rights' programme and completed a mural with Amnesty International.
• Ending violence against women and girls project- involved a lengthy campaign to support women's rights. Redesigned government Strategy to make it more youth friendly.

• Supported youth workers in organising and carrying out weekly sessions, planned trips and outdoor activities
• Helped plan and volunteered for multiple summer schemes.
• Established a safe, inclusive environment, promoting diversity and respect.
• Helped with coordination and supervision of youth activities.
• Developed an awareness of child protection issues and established procedures.
• Developed an awareness of confidentiality.
• Able to manage and resolve conflict.
• Took part in multiple volunteer training and team building sessions over the years.
• Took part in a debrief after every drop-in session, reported any issues or concerns to leaders in charge.
• Helped set up and clean up before and after every session.
• Worked with children of various age ranges (5-12)
• Developed plans and strategies to promote continuous improvement.
• Received award and certificate for appreciation and commitment as a volunteer.

• This was a programme primarily ran by young people campaigning to put an end to violence against women and girls.
• Twin event that took place in Derry and Dublin in collaboration with another youth centre, strengthening working relationships.
• Took part in meetings and sessions to draw up a vision board for the programme, brainstorming and generating creative ideas for the campaign.
• Helped spread awareness and the aims of the cause through designing and distributing posters/ flyers.
• Helped create a social media campaign including a social media platform to spread awareness and update followers of progress.
• Had to work within a budget to stay within assigned amount.
• Had multiple roles to play in planning the event and during event.
• Took part in an interactive evaluation to close event and offer feedback

• This was the next step in our campaign of ending violence against women and girls, taking the project national rather than just local.
• Planned events and activities for International Women's Day.
• Raising awareness of the rising and consistent acts of violence against women and girls in the region.
• As a group working with Dove House, Armagh Epicentre and Eden Place Art Centre we collaborated together and raised awareness through different mediums including art, speeches and conversations.
• Organised activities to raise awareness in a fun and memorable way. Adjusted the activities to suit different ages and groups such as families. These were showcased at three separate successful events with the Armagh one reaching over 100+ attendees.
• In February 2025 we as a group attended Leeds University and spoke to student representatives about where we were from and what we have done as part of the Go Lead Project and the EVAWG Campaign.

Horizons is a regional Youth Leadership Programme for young people aged 15-17. This project aims to give all participants an OCN qualification through a peer led approach looking at team-building, leadership, personal development and social action in our communities. There is elements in the project that involve skills with Social Enterprise, and training opportunities.

This is a two year programme building skills and developing confidence in the participants. The group meet new people local and NI wide, and there is an opportunity to travel outside the UK and Ireland.

The project will give me the opportunity to get more involved with the community and take part in various residentials throughout the two years.

Skills I will develop include:

• Gain life experiences
• Improve efficiency and productivity by acquiring new skills.
• Gain OCN qualification
• Conquer fears through team building activities and activity based interventions.