Intercultural Youth Scotland
Case study
Intercultural Youth Scotland (IYS) is Scotland’s leading charity for Black and People of Colour (BPoC) youth. IYS is the only major organisation that is both youth-led and Black and PoC-led and key decisions within our organisation are led by our network of Youth Ambassadors.
We are a community, a service and a voice for BPoC young people, providing a safe space and a place to nurture their talents.
We are experts on the challenges facing us, based on our extensive years of youth work experience, our direct connection with young people and our own personal experiences. Our services cover a wide range from Youth Work, Education, Employability and Mental health.
Gyals Group
The Girls Group is a fun and safe space for young BPoC women to meet, share and talk about their lives as women of colour in Scotland.
We deliver culturally proficient sessions on a wide variety of subjects:
- Friendship and Activism
- Recognising our self-worth
- Developing Leadership
- How our cultures shape us
- Intersectionality
- The laws that affect women around the world
- Yoga delivered by professional BPoC yoga instructors
- Dance Sessions with the Scottish Ballet, leading to performances
These workshops are built to help tackle how to deal with systemic racism, barriers to inclusion, and give an awareness of rights and the services available. We work with external partners and Youth Ambassadors to develop activism-oriented workshops that help participants develop and recognise their potential whilst sharing their experiences and cultures.
Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh is the world’s leading youth achievement award, and we at IYS ensure all of our participants get the opportunity and support to achieve in the award, giving the opportunity to be the very best they can be.
Our DofE Service is linked into our Girls Group, which specialises in delivering safe spaces for young women from diverse communities to come together, nurturing often hidden talents and unique gifts.
PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION
IYS Improves representation and participation of disengaged young BIPOC women through bridging the gap in youth services, wider BIPOC communities and politics.
Please see examples of young people utilising our services and why they chose the get involved:
“When I am older, I would love to be a writer professionally. I am interested in both fiction and journalism. I also want to be involved in social movements for POC and especially POC women.”
Hazel Peters
Scottish and Guyanese, 16
“I am an extroverted person with a love for sports, music and travelling. When I am older, I would love to get to know people and cultures from all around the world on both a personal and professional level.”
Grace Igbinoke
Italo-Nigerian, 16
“I want to hopefully work along the lines of Creatives director / projects where my creative side comes out in social media whether that is tv, film, modelling /ads etc. My aspiration in life is to do cool stuff and travel to experience new things.”
Angelina Correia
Portuguese, 19
“I am a poet/singer and songwriter. My poems and songs are mostly based on celebrating femininity and womanhood within myself, and sharing my poetry as medicine from painful journeys in this lifetime. My goals are to become a fulltime singer and performer, with the hopes of releasing an album in the near future.”
Maryam Zaki
Egyptian, 18
EFFECTIVE PROVISION
IYS is the leading expert in Young BIPOC Scots, providing ongoing direct specialist support, social justice and vital pathways with a focus on nurturing talent showcasing BIPOC grassroot gifts!
ANTI-RACIST & PRO BLACK EDUCATION
Support young BIPOC Scots to have pride, understand and stand up for their rights, challenge inequality and be active challenging racism and discrimination.
You can find out more about IYS on their website and social channels: