Evidence suggests that wherever the Campaign Company oversee the development of a young mayor scheme, success follows. Looking at elections over the last year, the local authorities with the highest voter turnouts have been North Tyneside, Lewisham and Newham; all local authorities which TCC work closely with. In each of these areas we offer a different range of consultative services. Our offering reflects our comprehensive expertise of every aspect of the young mayor process but also allows for the bespoke needs of our clients.

We offer the following services:

Consultancy
Promoting the young mayor election
Candidate training and support
Electoral administration
Capacity building
Young mayor in office – training and support
Young mayor in office – communicating with young people
Evaluation
Networking

Consultancy (inc. stakeholder consultation and engagement)

Our experience permeates every aspect of a young mayor process and have been able to offer consultancy services to a number of clients to ensure their young mayor scheme is run both efficiently and cost-effectively.

Implementing a young mayor scheme is a rewarding but difficult process. We know the challenges that arise and can work with you to ensure the following:

You have the 'buy-in' of other bodies or partners working with children and young people
You have support from the very highest level
The young mayor process remains independent and free from external political interference
All the 'partners' working on the Young Mayor process (youth service, electoral services, schools etc) are fully briefed and aware of their respective roles
Children and young people feel fully engaged and empowered through their involvement
The political structures are in place to ensure the young mayor is able to influence real change
It is implemented in such a way that maximises the community cohesion benefits

Promoting the young mayor election
One of the main challenges for any fledgling young mayor scheme is to establish it in the minds of children and young people as both a process they can engage with, and as a meaningful model of youth representation. Any external communications are competing with a plethora of messages from other forms of media and indeed, other competing messages from a local authority and it's partners. We believe in a pro-active approach to engagement which seeks to communicate with young people on their terms.
We will:

help you to coordinate communications of all stakeholders involved with children and young people
develop a unifying brand around which the young mayor election, and other youth engagement initiatives can be marketing to young people
identify the appropriate communication mechanisms for your area, utilising both word of mouth and web 2.0 technologies

Candidate training and support

Making sure that candidates who put themselves forward are ready for the challenges of the both the campaign and their potential term of office is essential. Our expertise in this area comes not only from our innovative methods of engaging young people in participative processes but from a wealth of front-line political knowledge which comes from years of experience of party politics in the UK.

We are able to combine these two elements to produce a training package which gives a comprehensive introduction to the art of effective campaigning, pitched at a level appropriate for children and young people.

Our bespoke package of support includes:

Structured candidate training sessions covering a carefully developed range of essential campaign skills including:

Effective campaigning (formulating the message and getting it across)
Presentation skills
Negotiation skills

Choosing priorities – an introduction to decision making
24/7 candidate support through a range of mechanisms including a dedicated hotline and a range of web-based facilities utilising social networks and other web 2.0 technologies
Campaign materials – everything a candidate needs to promote their message
Making use of past and present young mayors from across the country to ensure a youth-led approach

Capacity building

TCC always look to ensure that our work is sustainable and that the legacy of our work lasts for many years. Every client has different areas of expertise and we are experts at building capacity within an organisation so that staff feel comfortable in their role and are able to deliver the highest possible outputs for children and young people. We can develop bespoke training programmes to ensure that all relevant stakeholders:

have a full understanding of the young mayor process and the value it can add for both adult decision makers and young people
are able to offer the necessary support to young people through both the election campaign and in office
develop the expertise to manage and maintain a successful young mayor scheme which strives for self-improvement, effectively transfers and learns from best practice and delivers the best possible outcomes for children and young people.

Young Mayor in office – training and support

Candidate training helps to ensure that elections are fairly contested and that participants are equipped with the necessary skills to run an effective political campaign. While these skills can be applied during the young mayors term in office, the successful candidate and his team will require a unique set of skills if they are to enjoy and make best use of their year in office. It is also crucial in the first year of any young mayor scheme that it is seen as a process that can deliver tangible outcomes for young people.

Within the Young Mayor Network, we work closely with those young mayor schemes cited as examples of best practice across the country and have a good understanding of the requirements of the role.

Young Mayor in office – communicating with young people

Young mayor is a serious political process and any directly elected young mayor should be accountable to the young people who elected them. Communications should be multi-faceted, incorporating both on-line and printed media, and harnessing the power of word of mouth publicity. The young mayor needs to reach beyond the 'usual suspects' and this can only be done by utilising all of these channels.

TCC can:

develop a website as a resource and communications hub for the young mayor process
link the website to appropriate web 2.0 mechanisms such as facebook and Twitter to encourage a two-way communication process
design a brand around which the young mayor's external communications can be focused
assist with the recruitment of a team of young mayor 'advocates' to raise awareness of the scheme and promote positive images of young people

Evaluation

Through our experience in facilitating every element of a young mayor process and integral role within the YMN, we know what they key ingredients are for success. However, every local area has different needs and we seek to learn from each young mayor election through a thorough evaluation process with incorporates discussion with all the key stakeholders, ranging from young people to schools and colleges. As expert practitioners and an independent organisation, we are perfectly placed to evaluate any young mayor process, drawing on examples of best practice from across England.

A meaningful evaluation can:

highlight the key improvements that can lead to an increased turnout
measure the impact of the young mayor process on both successful and unsuccessful candidates
improve the relationships that will enable more effective partnership working

Networking

The Campaign Company (TCC) and the Young Mayor Network (YMN) have close working relationships with every young mayor scheme within the UK and also work alongside some of the most prominent national youth organisations such as the British Youth Council (BYC). We are keen that the young people we work with are able to forge relationships with other young people both nationally, and where possible, internationally. We can work with our clients to facilitate these opportunities looking at a bespoke approach which takes advantage of web 2.0 technologies such as social networking but also makes provision for meetings, residentials and exchange trips.

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