Name: Richa Mehan MSYP
Role: MSYP for Glasgow West
I am an MSYP for Glasgow. So what does that really mean?
Well I am a Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYP) and I represent Glasgow along with other MSYP’s.
I believe that the my role as an MSYP for Glasgow West is to voice the ‘real’ issues and concerns of young people in Glasgow and help young people in my local area participate and feed into decision making at a national level.
So what do I do in order to make sure I am fully representing the views of Young People in my area at the Scottish Youth Parliament and Locally?
Well I try to get involved in as many youth projects and initiatives in Glasgow. You might have noticed Glasgow is a very big area so all MSYP’s need to be involved in their own local area.So I need to listen to young people in my area and voice their views.
Currently I am involved in working with Glasgow City Council Youth Services. I go to a variety of youth centres, both doing work and listening to what they think of current services offered and how they feel it meets their needs.
Young Scot lets me learn more about which tools exist to help Young People get involved and I get to find out how other Young People feel about services, not only regarding discounts, but also access to services such as health advice, and other areas.
I also speak to my dialogue youth worker who also takes on my views on how I feel youth services are in my area and feeds them back to her team; as well as helping me develop ideas to involve more Yong People in consultations in my area. There are many organisations that have been created to ensure Young People are supported and that their views are integrated into the strategic decisions that are made. And one of them is Scottish Youth Parliament. We work with the Scottish Government, Young Scot, Youth Link and Local Networks to ensure that we are supporting and developing the voice of young people in Scotland.
All of the MSYP’s come together over a series of General Meetings. In these we raise and debate important issues and react to acts of parliament as well as policies the Government are introducing. We also come up with our own ideas and solutions to problems which young people have identified.
Each MSYP is assigned to a group; these are a list of them:
• Culture and Media
• Education
• Enterprise and Employment
• Equal opportunities
• Health
• Social justice
• Sport and Leisure
• Transport, Environmental and Rural affairs
• External affairs
I am a member of the Education group and we work together to create ways in which education can be improved for Young People. An example of this is when our committee advised the Scottish Government on issues such as free meals for schools and anti-bullying strategies. Each focuses on identifying issues that really affect young people and campaign for change in that area.
The really great thing is that SYP is created for young people by young people. That means that we are motivating Young People across Scotland to realise their potential to make a difference. The lack of youth support when I was younger, has motivated me to really get involved in Glasgow Youth Services. I recently attended the World Youth Congress where I was a representative of Scotland. Here, young people from around the world discussed the need for Government globally to realise the potential of young people (Youth Led Development) and debate important issues such as living sustainably and working together for a just world.
SYP is a really good organisation because it represents young people from a variety of ages (14-25), from different areas, needs and ethnicities. This leads to an organisation that truly reflects Scotland as One country with many cultures. Remember young people lead this world, what they do can truly have global impact, because ‘a small stone thrown into water leads to ripples across the sea’ (a quote from the World Youth Congress).