Organisations

Our vision is for all young people to be equipped through effective citizenship education to become active, informed citizens who can participate in democratic life. The Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) is the subject association for Citizenship. It achieves its aim by providing membership services and education programmes while representing teachers and others involved in citizenship education both across the UK and overseas. ACT provides expert advice, training, conferences and resources to support the provision of quality citizenship education. Beyond advocating for the subject, ACT supports subject research, and offers strategic policy advice. Find out more about our work: https://www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk/ View our latest CPD and events: https://www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk/events

Association of Colleges is the national voice for further education, sixth form, tertiary and specialist colleges in England. We are a not-for-profit membership organisation established in 1996 by colleges, for colleges. Our members make up more than 90% of the sector - educating and training two million people each year. As a membership body we: - Influence government and local and national policymakers to create the environment for strong and sustainable colleges at the heart of the economy - Provide high quality professional support, advice and intelligence to meet the needs of every member - Champion and enhance the reputation of colleges, leaders, staff and students. We are committed to: - Being open and transparent, working with, and for, all members - Setting clear long-term priorities for our work with robust measures and accountability processes through our governance structure. - Providing all members with a seamless service that is professional, proactive, and responsive across the whole organisation - Working in partnership with a range of other organisations that can support and add value to our work.

Boys' and Girls' Clubs of Wales is a national voluntary youth work organisation offering young people new and attractive opportunities through a full and varied programme of educational, cultural, sporting and social activities. ​From its beginnings in the 1920's, the organisation has developed into being recognised as one of the most progressive youth work organisations in the UK. The organisation continues to offer a service and support to young people throughout Wales in traditional boys' and girls' clubs, community youth clubs, clubs providing sports and activities. Today, we have a membership of over 100 clubs providing youth work and sport throughout Wales. We offer support and training to help young people to develop into responsible and valued members of their communities, ensuring all young people have equal access to these opportunities. ​Our staff team and volunteers support our member clubs with non-formal learning opportunities such as Safer Internet use, Football Against Racism in Europe, Coding and Raise Your Voice. www.raiseyourvoice.wales is a dedicated space for young people so they can find out more about democracy in Wales, including how to vote, what the different political parties stand for and how politics affects their everyday lives. The Raise Your Voice project aims to reach all young people throughout Wales, including young people experiencing discrimination / marginalisation reaching under registered groups by delivering workshops.

CitizenCard is a non-profit, UK-wide issuer of PASS proof of age & ID cards which can be used as voter ID. Recognised by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the SIA and the Home Office, CitizenCard will offer free voter ID through its No ID No Vote! campaign to raise awareness about the need to show valid photo ID in local and UK general elections. Get in touch to see how you can support the campaign and offer any UK adult a free CitizenCard PASS Card (saving £15).

The Constitution Society is an independent, non-party educational foundation. The Society promotes public understanding of the British Constitution and works to encourage informed debate between legislators, academics and the public about proposals for constitutional change. Alongside its focus on constitutional issues, the Society supports initiatives which aim to improve the quality of government and legislation generally in Britain.

Democracy Club is a non-partisan Community Interest Company which works with the Electoral Commission, local government, and hundreds of volunteers to collect data on polling stations, candidates, and election results. Our websites and services provide voters with the key details they need to cast their ballot, as well as giving candidates space to present their policies. Democracy Club’s vision is of a country with the digital foundations to support everyone’s participation in democratic life. WhoCanIVoteFor.co.uk offers candidate lists for voters in all UK elections, via a simple postcode search. It also publishes election results. Outside of major elections, the front page of the website lists all upcoming by-elections. WhereDoIVote.co.uk gives polling station addresses for any UK postcode. This data is collected directly from local government, and is usually only available in the weeks before a scheduled election. We are always seeking to improve our tools in response to the needs of our users. If you have any questions, feedback, or requests regarding any area of our services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Audience: all UK voters, anyone interested in UK elections.

Education Scotland is a national body for supporting quality and improvement in education. It currently encompasses both challenge and support functions.

Elect Her is a tiny but mighty organisation that works across Britain to motivate, support & equip women in all their diversity to stand for elected office in all spheres of Government, providing them with the knowledge, confidence, and skills they need to do it. Only 35% of elected representatives are women, but women make up 51% of the population. Our vision is for a world in which at least 51% of elected officials are women. When women have access to political leadership there are gains for the whole of society. We demystify the process of standing for elected office, and support women at each stage of their political journey, with knowledge, confidence and skills. These stages are: 1. Getting Started in Politics – understanding democracy 2. Ready To Get Involved – working out how to participate in politics 3. Selection & Election – going through selection and election campaigns 4. In Elected Office - thriving as an elected representative We do this by providing training, workshops, online resources and community for women.

The Electoral Commission is the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK. We work to promote public confidence in the democratic process and ensure its integrity.

The Electoral Reform Society Cymru operates on a simple premise – that politics can be better than it is. We are campaigning for a better democracy in Wales, and across the UK. This includes increasing participation, political education and better engagement with our political institutions. Over the last year ERS Cymru have been coordinating a working group bringing together organisations working with those who are either newly enfranchised or haven’t engaged with politics ahead of the Senedd elections. This group now has over 80 members and is working to improving participation in this year’s local government elections.

Girlguiding is the UK’s largest youth organisation dedicated completely to girls, with around 370,000 members. Girls can do anything. We help them know that, whether they’re 4 or 18 or in between. All girls have a home at Girlguiding - whoever they are, and wherever they are. We show them a world of possibilities, big and small. We help them think big and be bold in a space where they can be themselves, get creative, explore, and have fun. We’re a powerful collective voice – with girls, led by girls – changing the world for the better. We’re 300,000 Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers, who come together to laugh, learn, explore and have adventures, in communities across the UK and virtually. We're 70,000 volunteers who make guiding happen by giving time, talent and enthusiasm.

The GLA is the regional authority for London with statutory powers to support impartial civic and democratic participation. In 2019, it has conceptualised and launched the annual London Voter Registration Week which now takes place every year, in September, with the support of all London borough electoral councils and a broad pan-London civil society coalition. It also runs Political Literacy events, an impartial Voter ID public awareness campaign and a grants programme aimed at equity - led organisations to address the equalities impact of the Elections Act (2022).

I have a voice brings professional political lobbying to the classroom. We provide young people with an opportunity to engage with the political system and make their voices heard. Our programmes develop young people’s skills, knowledge and confidence to speak up about the things that matter most to them & their communities. The programme is non-partisan and non-issue specific meaning the toolkit we develop remains applicable as their politics and priorities change over their lifetime. We work with schools, colleges, universities and youth groups to provide in-person and online sessions that are in line with the OFSTED Framework and the Citizenship and A-Level Curricula.

LBN’s Youth Empowerment Service support young people age 9-25 to access social and emotional learning opportunities through our: · quality youth work practice · comprehensive youth work offer (experiences and opportunities) · safe, varied and inviting youth work settings Young people are supported to develop skills within the areas of - Responsibility, Empathy, Problem Solving, Initiative, Teamwork and Emotion Management all underpinned by the foundational domain of safety (physical, social and emotional). Through engaging in our service it is our intention young people will: · Feel Valued · Have Influence · Feel Safe · Realise their Potential We deliver open access universal Youth Zone provision, detached youth work, an intensive Youth Work offer, a Children’s Rights and Advocacy Service, and a Youth Participation offer. The Youth Participation Team support the engagement of, and influence by, young people who are often marginalised in mainstream settings – specifically Children in Care, LGBTQIA+, and SEND young people – whilst ensuring that our approach is intersectional. Placing difference at the centre of our participation work and celebrating this, we promote inclusive ways of working and thinking, for youth workers and young people. Young people can take part in a range of activities promoting social action.

We are London Youth: a charity on a mission to champion and strengthen London’s youth organisations so young people have the opportunities and skills they need to succeed. We do this with and through our members – a network of 600 youth organisations – and at our two outdoor residential centres, Hindleap Warren and Woodrow High House

Migrant Democracy Project addresses the democratic deficit and participation gap in the UK’s migrant population. We promote and facilitate the civic and democratic participation of migrants in the UK at all levels so they are empowered to vote and inform policies that better reflect their needs and can work in solidarity towards social change.

The Modern Studies Association (MSA) is the professional association of Modern Studies teachers in Scotland. Founded in 1972, its purpose is to promote and enhance the teaching of Modern Studies in Scotland. With a membership of over 500 teachers, the association works with a number of educational partners including the SQA, Education Scotland and the Scottish Parliament Education Service.

My Life My Say (MLMS) is a youth-led, non-partisan charity on a mission to encourage young people to participate in democracy and get every single young person voting. We’re recognised as one of the leading drivers of youth engagement in the UK reaching over 2 million young people, including partnerships with the UK Government, Mayor of London and United Nations. MLMS won the UK Government’s 2018 National Democracy Change Makers Award and has proven its ability to influence policy and empower young people across the UK and Europe. MLMS are proud members of the UK Government's National Democracy Council, helping advise the Cabinet Office on their engagement strategy. Working with a number of different partners, each year MLMS delivers the Next Gen Conference 2023, bringing together 500 young people from across the United Kingdom to enagage with party leaders, journalists and influencers on key political issues. We are also coordinators of the annual National Voter Registration Day. In 2023, we 85,000 people registered to vote on that one day alone with impressions 565,000 people. This year we are partnering with Shape History and the #iWill Campaign to launch a national youth voter registration campaign: My Future My Vote.

NUS is the national student union representing university and college students across the UK. As one of the world’s largest student movements, we fight to make education free and lifelong. We believe that education should be accessible and enjoyable for all – and our community of students, educators, activists and advocates are determined to make it happen.

Naked Politics Ltd is an independent media and educational organisation, named for our values of transparency and trustworthiness

Omidaze (Oh My Days!) Productions is a partnership organisation run by two freelancers Yvonne Murphy & Dick Johns and was founded in 2008. Our mission is to use theatre, the arts and creativity to empower, inform & entertain new audiences & inspire positive social change. We are arts activists & strive to create a fairer, more equal & just society as well as creating ground-breaking & inspirational theatre and creative live and digital projects. We are passionate about the intersection between democratic and cultural participation and creative/artistic centred approaches to problem solving and systems change. Website www.omidaze.co.uk

The Patchwork Foundation works to equip young people with the necessary skills and experience to encourage active participation in democracy and wider civil society. We believe that our society is only as good as our democracy and our democracy is only as great as the range of the voices within it. We know that increased confidence and self-belief leads to greater participation and realisation. The result is a stronger and more representative country; a nation where we encourage everyone to play their part, and a society that hears and responds to the needs of all. The Patchwork Foundation mission is to promote and encourage the positive integration of disadvantaged and minority communities into British democracy and civil society.

People’s History Museum (PHM) is the national museum of democracy, telling the story of its development in Britain: past, present, and future. The museum provides opportunities for all people to learn about, be inspired by and get involved in ideas worth fighting for; ideas such as equality, social justice, co-operation, and a fair world for all

Building a better peace. We build learning journeys with young people that empower them to act together on issue that matter to them to achieve social change. We work in diverse clusters of schools around Northern Ireland - supporting young people to bring the issues they care about to local politicians at the NI Assembly. We are also running Northern Ireland's votes at 16 campaign. We are broadening our work out to youth work settings and creating media with young people and we also work on a cross-border basis with colleagues in the Irish Republic.

Purpose Union is a strategy firm helping businesses and nonprofits find, communicate and achieve their social purpose.

RECLAIM powers young working-class people to change the country today and lead it tomorrow. We are a bold and ambitious charity committed to creating a future where your class background is no barrier to what you can achieve. A challenging upbringing should be seen as a strength, not a weakness.

Radix Big Tent is the think tank for the radical centre. We are cross-party, independent and non-partisan. We don’t believe that all wisdom resides within a square mile of Big Ben. We trust people and communities to understand and promote their own best interests and provide them with the platforms to do this. These include: publishing policy papers and blogs, arranging roundtables and discussions with senior policymakers and influencers, and host our flagship Big Tent Ideas Festival, which attracts leading speakers including Ministers, shadow Ministers and other from business, academia and campaigning organisations, across the political spectrum. Details of future events, daily blogs and our papers on a range of topics can be found at www.radixuk.og

Save the Children exists to help every child get the chance of a future they deserve. In 118 countries around the world, we make sure children keep safe, healthy and learn. With global Save the Children members, our shared ambition is that by 2030; no child dies from preventable causes before their fifth birthday; all children learn from a quality basic education and that violence against children is no longer tolerated. Together with families, supporters and partners, we provide live-saving short-term help and push for deep-rooted social change, to help children take their future into their own hands. In the UK, we work to address child poverty by uniting families and schools, ensuring the poorest children get help. We provide emergency grants, build positive home environments and campaign for children’s futures such as social security support. We support young people across the UK with the tools and platforms to have their voices heard on the issues that matter most to them.

Scouting actively engages and supports young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society. Every week, we help almost half a million people aged 4-25 develop skills for life.

The Welsh Parliament is the democratically elected body that represents the interests of Wales and its people. Commonly known as the Senedd, it makes laws for Wales, agrees Welsh taxes and holds the Welsh Government to account.

We're Shape History, the social impact communications agency. We come up with ideas to make the world fairer, faster. We blend commercial creativity with a strategic, authentic understanding of how to affect positive change and tackle social issues with cultural sensitivity and integrity. From public health to gender equality, climate action to driving policy change, and everything in between, we maximise the power of strategy and communications to progress the 2030 Agenda. We're always ready to push the boundaries of social impact, defying what others call impossible.

Shout Out UK (SOUK) is a multi-award winning creative social enterprise on a mission to defend and amplify democracy by ensuring all citizens understand how their government functions through political literacy, are inoculated from disinformation and misinformation through media literacy and are given a chance to have a say in how their country is run through our own youth voice platform and various programmes. SOUK has run some of the largest city-wide voter registration and voter awareness campaigns in the democratic world. Furthermore, its education programmes on Media & Political Literacy have been utilised to combat disinformation and extremism nationwide through Prevent, as well as translated into various languages and utilised in multiple countries. SOUK has worked with a number of clients, including, but not limited to; the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Greater London Authority, the US Embassy in London, the US State Department and NATO.

Creating better conversations about UK politics by bringing you everything you need, where you already are.

Smart School Councils is a charity based in London that helps every child to lead change in their world through democracy. We support schools with simple, practical and digital tools to help achieve that.

Teach the Future is a youth-led campaign to urgently repurpose the entire education system around the climate emergency and ecological crisis.The campaign is led by a team of over 40 young volunteers. We are advised by an adult advisory board and hosted by the charity SOS-UK.

The Advocacy Academy are youth organisers working to create a more fair, just, and equal society, by building the collective power of young people to bring about change. We train young people with lived experience of injustice to achieve long-term systemic change for themselves and the communities they live in. We combine formal instruction in social and economic systems, practical training in community organising, with the heart and soul of radical youth work. We equip young people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to become active agents for change in the community.

The Day is an online daily newspaper for young people. We publish analysis of breaking news that provides balance and context for debates that explore the deeper currents shaping our world.  Offering rich and engaging online educational resources that turn news into lessons, we provide schools with unlimited access to activities that bring big global issues into the classroom through daily news written in-house, polls, graphics, posters, translations and links for external guided research.  All resources are created by our own team of journalists to help schools teach critical thinking, real-world knowledge and civic engagement. They are available in five different reading levels for children between the ages of 5 and 18. By making connections between current affairs and the curriculum, we encourage students to become more actively engaged in their studies and more inquisitive, enabling them to develop cultural capital and the skills they need to be successful in the modern world and ethical, informed citizens.  We work towards a world where young people everywhere learn how to become ambitious, capable learners, ask good questions, debate the issues, listen to others and develop a powerful voice in shaping a better future.

The Democracy Box involves young people aged 16-26 being paid as co-creators to explore and develop new ways to explain the basics of our democracy for other young people, old people and everyone in between all year round and not just in the run up to an election. The Democracy Box seeks to increase democratic participation through creative approaches to conversation, deliberation and information about the UK’s democratic system and structures.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award (The DofE) is a voluntary, non-competitive programme of activities. It's open to young people aged 14 to 24.

The National Youth Agency is the national body for youth work, and the Professional Statutory Regulatory Body (PSRB) for youth work in England. We have been transforming lives through youth work for over 50 years. By championing, professionalising, and enabling youth work, we strive to find better, more inventive ways to empower more young people. NYA holds a unique position within the youth sector, offering guidance, support, advice, training, and staff development opportunities for youth workers and youth work organisations. We deliver training both face-to-face and through our online learning Academy. Our team of Youth Work Specialists are experienced youth workers and teaching staff and are well placed to support professional development of staff teams and individuals. As the PSRB we are responsible for quality assurance and compliance for all Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) recognised programmes in the country through the Education Training Standards committee, and more widely in the UK through JETS. This includes quality assurance and compliance on youth work programmes from Level 2 – 6.

The Politics Project is a democratic education and engagement organisation that supports young people to use their voice.

The Week Junior is a multi-award-winning children’s magazine packed with engaging articles, eye-catching images, and big ideas that get eight to 14-year-olds reading, thinking, and talking. Published weekly, it features everything from current affairs to sport, science, books, cooking, and craft – feeding children’s natural curiosity, encouraging critical thinking and boosting their confidence.

The Network aims to build and strengthen the democracy sector, addressing threats and maximising on the opportunities for impact and change. It seeks to bring together people passionate about democracy from across the UK to support collaboration and build our collective power and influence.

The UK Parliament Education and Engagement Team offers an exciting, free programme of face-to-face and online sessions, award winning resources, and professional development for schools and colleges, home educators, and community and youth groups.

UK Youth is a leading charity with a vision that all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. With an open network of over 8000 youth organisations and nation partners, we are focused on unlocking youth work as the catalyst of change that is needed now more than ever.

United Response is a charity that supports autistic people and adults with learning disabilities and mental health needs at home and in the community. We campaign to ensure the people we support have equal access to the same rights and opportunities and challenge the negative attitudes and discrimination they face.

We are a diverse organisation collaborating with our academic, corporate and governmental partners to facilitate dialogue and build pragmatic solutions for minority communities. We are Social, Corporate, Political and Environmental policy experts.

VotesforSchools' mission is simple: we want children and young people to be informed, curious, and heard. We seek to achieve this by allowing our voters to have a say on the issues that matter to them, and those which will affect them in the future. They build a respect for democratic action and an understanding of the power of youth voice by participating in our sessions on a weekly basis. These sessions then conclude with a vote, the results of which are then collated and shared with changemakers, influential bodies, and experts, massively raising the profile of youth voice. In the last year, our VoteTopics have spanned radicalisation to organ donation, local elections to music streaming, and we have had votes on these issues from as many as 30,000 5-18-year olds around the UK.

Integrated Children's Centre (ICC), founded as an adventure playground in 1978, incorporating playwork provision, youth work, Flying Start Early Years Centre, inclusion provision, co-produced youth mental health project, and more.

Young Citizens is a national education charity lighting the spark of active citizenship for children and young people. They deliver skills, knowledge and enrichment to over half a million children and young people each year through a range of topical classroom resources and immersive learning experiences. Their team of education experts works to equip young minds with the confidence to shape both local communities and powerful societal systems. Young Citizens offers a diverse portfolio of learning projects and resources for schools and youth groups to use. Whether it be through their resource libraries, interactive mock trial competitions, skills-based workshops with professionals or social action programmes, the charity is dedicated to inspiring children and young people to be active participants in society. Their vision is a society where all people are empowered to shape their communities and institutions to enable a thriving democracy.

Youth Work Unit Yorkshire and the Humber CIO, is a regional infrastructure organisation, offering support and a strategic lead to organisations and individuals delivering youth work services to and working directly with young people. Via networking opportunities, training, newsletters, meetings and conferences to help organisations maintain high standards in their youth work delivery. Through our many networks and contracts, we have contributed both indirectly and directly to positive outcomes for young people in our region. Additionally, the YWU works directly with young people, through a range of regional youth voice platforms, which are overseen and facilitated by a regional Youth Board who identify areas that impact on young people and working alongside Influencers and Decision Makers, co-create solutions.

www.ivote.org.uk aims to inspire young people to vote and, more specifically, to encourage a voter registration day in every school / college. iVote is politically impartial and has patrons drawn from across the political spectrum. The main 10 min iVote 'Why vote?' video (available for use in schools/colleges) involves major public figures directly answering questions put by 6th formers, and concludes in calls by the General Secretaries of the National Education Union, Association of School and College Leaders and National Association of Head Teachers for a voter registration day in every school/college. iVote has collaborated with www.votesforschools.com (VFS) to produce a Teacher Resource Pack to support teachers in doing a voter registration day -- including an interactive engaging presentation, engaging videos, and a 1 min animation aimed at Heads of 6th form. Other key activities include speaking to school/college 6th forms, and a video competition being judged by a high-profile panel of public figures from across the political spectrum.

Established in 2003, mySociety is a not for profit group pioneering the use of online technologies to empower citizens and support greater civic participation. Our mission is to help people be active citizens — because secure and fair democracies need engaged and informed citizens. Our digital services, research and data increase transparency and help citizens understand and engage in democratic processes. We work across four interlinked practice areas: Community, Democracy, Transparency and Climate — each underpinned by research, sector building and appropriate commercial work. We operate both inside and outside of government; improving access and responsiveness while holding power to account. As well as running our established services such as FixMyStreet.com, TheyWorkForYou.com and WhatDoTheyKnow.com, we support the work of local organisations who reuse our open source code, running services used by more than 11 million people every year in over 40 countries worldwide.