Read what Mary Morris, Team Manager and Julie Brown, Involvement Adviser, had to say about the new animation co-designed with our volunteers, how it came about and why, and what happened during the making of it.
The children and young people’s team were genuinely inspired by the approach used to involve our young inspection volunteers in the co-design of both the Text to Complain service, and the recent animation which promoted this service with our children and young people. We were keen to take a similar style and meaningfully engage our volunteers with lived experience of care in our evolving approach to inspection work. We thought that this chimed really well with the messages from the Promise and ensured that our young people’s voices influenced our work in an authentic way.
Over the course of four online and two in person meetings, our group of six young inspection volunteers developed the concepts, script and key messages for the animation. The group were keen that the language used was jargon free and accessible for the audience. This was a creative and fun process that everyone contributed to. The group was keen to ensure that the film appealed to children of all ages and that the voiceovers included some younger children. It was agreed that using animations would be the best way to engage all ages and the group were careful to select images which were gender neutral, and inclusive. As pet lovers our volunteers were keen to highlight the benefits that animals can bring to care experienced young people. The group also wanted to give a nuanced approach to the range of emotions felt by those in care settings.
We gathered in Kelvin College, where some of our young inspection volunteers are completing their Community Achievement awards for a premiere of the film and to celebrate this brilliant piece of work. Our young people had this to say about the film and their experiences of working on it:
- “I really enjoyed being part of the animation group and voiceover work especially as this is the first time my son has been involved in a piece of work I have done” Toni
- “It was really fun making the film and I enjoyed all the volunteers coming together and doing all the recordings” Rosa
Co-design and co-production are powerful ways of working. Allowing our young people with lived experience of care to influence and inform how we engage with young people in services, ensures we communicate with our children and young people in the most genuine voice we can. This film will really enhance our regulatory work and will be shared widely. We look forward to building on this foundational participatory approach.