Unconference on ‘Future Generations’

Inspiring young people to have a collective agency to deliver our future Civil Service. Horizons worked with the Transform Alliance to create a day where young people could come together to discuss and share ideas on the future, with a particular focus on vulnerable children and young adults. 

Who make up the Transform Alliance?

Police Now, Teach First, Unlocked Graduates, Think Ahead and Frontline.

"The Transform Alliance brings together five charities which recruit, train and develop frontline public-sector workers to maximise the impact they can deliver. The specific members are Teach First (primary and secondary school teachers), Frontline (child social work), Unlocked Graduates (prison officers), Think Ahead (adult mental health) and Police Now.

"Fostering collaboration across charities is notoriously difficult – particularly when there is perceived competition between these organisations in the graduate marketplace. However, the Transform vision is built around the notion that more can be achieved by working together than working in silos – taking ‘partnership working’ to the next level."

What is an unconference?

An Unconference is a structured, facilitated way to run workshops and events with no pre-set agenda. It is a means to create a space for peer-to-peer learning and to drive both energy and collective purpose across a diverse group. No topics are pre-determined, no keynote speakers are invited, no panels or working groups are arranged. Instead, the event lives and dies by the participation of its attendees. They decide what topics will be discussed and they convene the individual breakout sessions. There is no content until the participants create it.

The outcome.

As an energised day came to a close and the feedback came in it was exciting to see the desire for cross-sector collaboration. Understanding that the networked age (new power) has changed the way citizens engage and what they require from their civil service organisations we have to roll up our sleeves and work across organisational boundaries and create the change we all want. 

You can read Dame Julia Cleverdon's reflections about the day here https://www.policenow.org.uk/unconference_transform/