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| Louise Macdonald: ‘We’re still not seeing the reality of young people’s lives’ | Louise Macdonald: ‘We’re still not seeing the reality of young people’s lives’ |
| (4 months later) | |
| Louise Macdonald is a woman who wears multiple hats. As the chair of the Scottish government’s Advisory Council on Women and Girls – established last November by the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon – she has been charged with no lesser a task than “improving the lives of women and girls in Scotland”. | Louise Macdonald is a woman who wears multiple hats. As the chair of the Scottish government’s Advisory Council on Women and Girls – established last November by the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon – she has been charged with no lesser a task than “improving the lives of women and girls in Scotland”. |
| Fiona Duncan: ‘We want to put love at the heart of Scotland’s care system’ | |
| And that’s not even her day job. Macdonald is chief executive of Young Scot, the award-winning youth information and citizenship charity. Throughout 2018, Young Scot is a key partner in the country’s Year of Young People, an ambitious cavalcade of events encompassing everyone from youth offenders in Polmont to young traditional music players in the Highlands. | And that’s not even her day job. Macdonald is chief executive of Young Scot, the award-winning youth information and citizenship charity. Throughout 2018, Young Scot is a key partner in the country’s Year of Young People, an ambitious cavalcade of events encompassing everyone from youth offenders in Polmont to young traditional music players in the Highlands. |
| Previous themed years in Scotland – there have been two on food and drink in the past decade – have been heavily focused on attracting visitors and trade. Macdonald says it is about “celebration, challenging stigma and giving young people a voice” and “can also be a catalyst for changing policy”. Scotland’s minimum age of criminal responsibility will be raised to 12 years, in line with UN standards, after the current minimum age of eight, the lowest in Europe, was labelled a “national embarrassment” by the Scottish government. And the UN convention on the rights of the child may be brought into Scottish law. The convention was ratified by the UK in 1992, but not brought into domestic law, so it is not legally binding. | Previous themed years in Scotland – there have been two on food and drink in the past decade – have been heavily focused on attracting visitors and trade. Macdonald says it is about “celebration, challenging stigma and giving young people a voice” and “can also be a catalyst for changing policy”. Scotland’s minimum age of criminal responsibility will be raised to 12 years, in line with UN standards, after the current minimum age of eight, the lowest in Europe, was labelled a “national embarrassment” by the Scottish government. And the UN convention on the rights of the child may be brought into Scottish law. The convention was ratified by the UK in 1992, but not brought into domestic law, so it is not legally binding. |
| Young people’s expertise is not often acknowledged | Young people’s expertise is not often acknowledged |
| After initial discussions in 2016, Young Scot – along with the Scottish youth parliament and the national agency Children in Scotland – recruited a diversegroup of young people to plan the year. They decided to make a 10-month “grand tour” of Scotland, meeting in village halls, works canteens, schools and sheltered housing complexes, and asking what it look like. The themes that came out were then presented to the Scottish government, with the insistence that nothing should happen during the year unless it was co-designed by young people.Macdonald, who has revolutionised the way Young Scot consults with its 11- to 26-year-old base, is a passionate advocate for this new way of working. Indeed, Young Scot now has its own co-design unit. | After initial discussions in 2016, Young Scot – along with the Scottish youth parliament and the national agency Children in Scotland – recruited a diversegroup of young people to plan the year. They decided to make a 10-month “grand tour” of Scotland, meeting in village halls, works canteens, schools and sheltered housing complexes, and asking what it look like. The themes that came out were then presented to the Scottish government, with the insistence that nothing should happen during the year unless it was co-designed by young people.Macdonald, who has revolutionised the way Young Scot consults with its 11- to 26-year-old base, is a passionate advocate for this new way of working. Indeed, Young Scot now has its own co-design unit. |
| “Young people’s expertise is not often acknowledged,” she explains. “We had a concern that consultation only went so far. It was: ‘We’ve designed something already, tell us what you think.’ We were hearing young people wanted to be in right at the beginning.” Based on models trialled by innovations charity, Nesta, co-design assumes that every young person arrives as an expert on their own experience, and uses creative methods that allow them to engage quickly, rather than sitting around a table. “It helps policymakers see young people in a different way and understand what they can contribute.” | “Young people’s expertise is not often acknowledged,” she explains. “We had a concern that consultation only went so far. It was: ‘We’ve designed something already, tell us what you think.’ We were hearing young people wanted to be in right at the beginning.” Based on models trialled by innovations charity, Nesta, co-design assumes that every young person arrives as an expert on their own experience, and uses creative methods that allow them to engage quickly, rather than sitting around a table. “It helps policymakers see young people in a different way and understand what they can contribute.” |
| Does Macdonald think public opinion is keeping pace with change and the challenges facing young lives? “There’s still a way to go. We’re looking at young people in insecure work, unlikely to be able to afford their own home, [our generation has] trashed the planet. There’s still a sense of not seeing the reality of young people’s lives,” she says. | Does Macdonald think public opinion is keeping pace with change and the challenges facing young lives? “There’s still a way to go. We’re looking at young people in insecure work, unlikely to be able to afford their own home, [our generation has] trashed the planet. There’s still a sense of not seeing the reality of young people’s lives,” she says. |
| Conversations around culture change are also dominating the first year of the Advisory Council on Women and Girls. “What we’re being asked to do is offer advice to and challenge the first minster on how we make things [policy] move faster in Scotland, where are the opportunities and blockages? It’s not about duplicating frontline work, be that on childcare or access to sanitary products, but we’re doing strategic thinking and acting as an ally,” says Macdonald. | Conversations around culture change are also dominating the first year of the Advisory Council on Women and Girls. “What we’re being asked to do is offer advice to and challenge the first minster on how we make things [policy] move faster in Scotland, where are the opportunities and blockages? It’s not about duplicating frontline work, be that on childcare or access to sanitary products, but we’re doing strategic thinking and acting as an ally,” says Macdonald. |
| With 370 organisations signed up to the group’s consultative circle, the first year is focusing on attitudes and culture change, in particular the impact of the #MeToo movement; the following year will consider policy and legislative coherence; “because in Scotland we’re small enough, but big enough to get the balance right”; and the final year will examine the framework that looks at how discrimination based on gender, race and class overlaps and impacts on those affected. | With 370 organisations signed up to the group’s consultative circle, the first year is focusing on attitudes and culture change, in particular the impact of the #MeToo movement; the following year will consider policy and legislative coherence; “because in Scotland we’re small enough, but big enough to get the balance right”; and the final year will examine the framework that looks at how discrimination based on gender, race and class overlaps and impacts on those affected. |
| The intention is to produce a public report and recommendations at the end of each year, which frontline organisations can use to argue their case. Macdonald says: “It gives them tools and informed ideas, because we’re advisory, not statutory, so we’re clear about what we can and can’t do, but I have no doubt about the first minister’s commitment on this.” | The intention is to produce a public report and recommendations at the end of each year, which frontline organisations can use to argue their case. Macdonald says: “It gives them tools and informed ideas, because we’re advisory, not statutory, so we’re clear about what we can and can’t do, but I have no doubt about the first minister’s commitment on this.” |
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| Curriculum vitae | Curriculum vitae |
| Family: Lots and well loved, for which I’m thankful every day. | Family: Lots and well loved, for which I’m thankful every day. |
| Lives: East Lothian, Scotland. | Lives: East Lothian, Scotland. |
| Education: Musselburgh grammar; Napier Polytechnic (journalism studies). | Education: Musselburgh grammar; Napier Polytechnic (journalism studies). |
| Career: 2008–present: chief executive, Young Scot; 2003–08: communications director, Young Scot; 1996-2003: various project and public affairs roles with the Scottish Community Education Council; 1992-96: various roles in community-based projects including East Lothian Volunteer Centre; 1988-92: various roles in print journalism at local and national level including the Derby Evening Telegraph. | Career: 2008–present: chief executive, Young Scot; 2003–08: communications director, Young Scot; 1996-2003: various project and public affairs roles with the Scottish Community Education Council; 1992-96: various roles in community-based projects including East Lothian Volunteer Centre; 1988-92: various roles in print journalism at local and national level including the Derby Evening Telegraph. |
| Public life: chair, National Advisory Council on Women and Girls; board member, Scotland’s Futures Forum; president, European Youth Card Association. | Public life: chair, National Advisory Council on Women and Girls; board member, Scotland’s Futures Forum; president, European Youth Card Association. |
| Interests: Photography; wild places; and being curious about life, the universe and everything. I ask “why” a lot … | Interests: Photography; wild places; and being curious about life, the universe and everything. I ask “why” a lot … |
| Young people | Young people |
| The Society interview | The Society interview |
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| #MeToo movement | #MeToo movement |
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