How we can help

Participation People believe organisations become more effective when they collaborate creatively with the young people who use them. Through each of our three distinct approaches, we facilitate award-winning youth participation projects to empower decision-makers to make better business decisions, with young people involved in every step

- Shifting Culture and Changing Mindset

When you're in need of a gear change, consultation with young people can provide fresh perspective. Discover the ways we can gather insights from young people to inspire the innovation you need.

- Strengthening Structures and Processes

Services and processes work better when you consult the people that use them. We can collaborate with you to build seamless processes that truly respond to youth insight.

- Improving Feedback and Insight

With business intelligence and the right tools, we can help you take action, consulting young people to solve BIG and small business challenges together.

Our vision is a world where young people are consulted on the decisions that impact them, giving them the power to become a positive voice for change within their communities.

Case Studies

Since 2010, Participation People is proud to have supported our partners across a range of different sectors to unlock the value of youth participation, including local authorities, education and learning establishments, housing and supported housing providers, voluntary and community sector organisations as well as private businesses and corporate partners.

To learn more about the positive impact we have made on these organisations, and how we can replicate similar youth engagement projects for your organisation, explore our case studies.

Meet the team

We are a team of high-energy, enthusiastic, and engaged facilitators who bring fun, playfulness and dedication to the workplace, every day.

Antonia Dixey

Chief Executive (CEO)

Antonia is our Founder and CEO. Her vision is for every single child and young person to have a voice, and for them to be listened to and have their views acted upon. She has facilitated, managed and engaged with young people on many youth engagement projects in the UK, Armenia, Canada, South Africa and South America.

Collette Debono

Project Admin & Support

Collette is passionate about working with young children & people, and has worked for 10 years with young children. She believes that all children are entitled to have a voice, and is committed to help them flourish into confident young people. Collette has gained her NVQ’s in Child & Young Persons Development, and has recently extended her skills into a research admin role.

Ed Cooney

Lead Youth Voice And Influence Officer.

Ed has worked with young people in various environments ranging from English language summer schools, the Cub Scouts and supporting young people through their Duke of Edinburgh Awards. Ed is passionate about encouraging young people into social action and equipping them with the skills to get their voices heard in a fun environment!

Conor

Youth Voice and Influence Contractor

Conor has worked with Participation People for 6 years in a variety of roles including: Wandsworth Youth Council Chair, Young Ambassador and supporting politicians to scrutinise their work. Conor is passionate about supporting professionals to inspire young people from low socio-economic backgrounds and with speech and language impediments to achieve. He is a fantastic facilitator with an infectious sense of fun in his delivery style!

Farhana

Youth Voice and Influence Contractor

Farhana has worked with Participation People for 5 years. In her words, “I went to one Youth Council session and never looked back!” She is working her way through university to be a teacher, inspiring 11-18 year olds learn, develop and thrive through play! Farhana is passionate about supporting young people who’s voices often get overlooked speak up loud and proud.

Hanna

Youth Voice and Influence Contractor

Hanna has worked with Participation People for the last 4 years in her role as Chair of Dorset's Care Leaver Forum. Supporting vulnerable young people to gain meaningful employment and in her words, "escape the system" is a particular passion of hers. She is an brilliant facilitator with both young people and professionals; helping them have the “tough” conversations in a safe and inclusive space.

Finlay

Youth Engagement Cockapoo

I’m Finlay the cockapoo. I’m a member of the Participation People team too! I like lots of cuddles and to help young people when they are stressed and upset. I live in Dorset but do lots of travelling across the UK to help the team empower young people to have their voice & engage in conversation. I think I have the best job of all!

Hannah Hazell

Programme Manager, Specialist and Targeted

Hannah has been enthusiastic and passionate about working with young people since she was a student in Nottingham. Hannah has experience working with a variety of young people from different backgrounds, including care leavers, university students and groups of young women in Senegal (West Africa.) Nothing gives her greater satisfaction than seeing young people develop and grow with confidence over time!

Temi Oluwadare

Acting Programme Manager, Specialist And Targeted

Temi has a desire to impact her world around her and believes that this starts with impacting young people. She has many years of experience working with young people on social action projects, mentoring schemes, residentials’ and more. She has worked on a range of projects that aim to leave a lasting impact in the community. These range from homelessness to the elderly. A number of charities she has worked with aim to give back to the community and unite people together, these are two key principles that she lives by.

Finlay Wyer

Youth Research Lead

Finlay has been a Young Researcher for 3 years with Participation People. With a keen eye for detail he now supports and trains other Young Researchers (and the Participation People Team) in participatory action research. He is a keen runner and lover of the outdoors when he isn’t crunching numbers or cross tabbing data sets!

Narges Rahmani

Youth Voice and Influence Contractor

Narges has been a member of her local Youth Council for 5 years and is always looking for new opportunities. She loves meeting new people and learning about their lives; influencing others for the better, even for a small moment, is what she aspires to embody. As well as socialising, Narges loves technology and spends a lot of her time programming or learning more about computer science.

Fredrick Duncan

Youth Voice and Influence Contractor

I’m really excited to bring my passion, charisma and sense of humour to youth voice forums, projects and activities with Participation People. My favourite quote, which sums up my role with Participation People; "I know that it's monotonous but finally comes a time where you can express yourself (with your craft) and this brings you such a pleasure that all the dull hours are forgotten you just need practice, practice and more practice.” Looking forward to practicing my youth voice facilitation skills with you soon!

Kim Emenike

Youth Voice and Influence Contractor

Kim has had experience with engaging with participation programmes from the age of 10 years old such as Greenwich Young People's Council and Greenwich's Children In Care Council. She has experience with working on youth programs for example as an Assistant Wave Lead for National Citizens Service (NCS). Kim is a Care Leaver and is a strong advocate for young people who are Care experienced. She believes young people, particularly Care Leavers, need to be given a platform to share their experiences. The current 'system' is broken and she is therefore determined to be the driving force to fix it.

Jodie Lancashire-Clark

Youth Voice and Influence Officer

Jodie has been working alongside young people in various environments, ranging from tutoring, babysitting, mentoring and Girlguiding. She loves their creativity, openness and out of the box thinking. Jodie is passionate about making a real difference in the community by helping to educate and change people's views, to support and provide equal opportunities and to embed an inclusive culture across society, and she strongly believes the best way to accomplish this is with the help of young people!

Charlotte Patterson

Youth Voice and Influence Officer

Charlotte Patterson is a North-East creative, theatre-maker & facilitator - currently based in Liverpool. She is one half of feminist theatre duo ‘Bite! Theatre’, and teaches drama in a local Toxteth-based youth group ‘Staged Kaos’. Recipient of an MA in Performance focusing on Installation & Post-Human thought. As well as a First Class BA in Drama and Theatre Studies - specialising in Disability Studies & Invisible Disabilities.

Charly O’Brien

Youth Voice and Influence Officer

Charly has worked with lots of different groups of young people over the years in various settings. She is passionate about supporting young people to be the creators of their own futures. Charly is an experienced facilitator and volunteers with the Scouts, leading projects such as the #YouthShape Initiative in Scouting. Charly is always looking for new opportunities to empower young people in decision towards real life changes and excited to be part of Participation People’s Team, to help her do just that!

Ella Green

Youth Voice and Influence Officer

Ella cares about making the world a kind place where everyone’s voice is heard. She has experience working in the charity sector with young disabled and/or neurodivergent adults, refugees and women’s groups. Ella loves seeing people connect with others and make changes in their communities. She wants young voices to be amplified because young people are the future and deserve to live in a world that they create!

Melissa McCormick

Communications Advisor

Melissa has extensive experience in supporting businesses, organisations and upper schools in the promotion and facilitation of events for young people. She has a real understanding of the importance and significance of ensuring that communications with young people are relevant and engaging, and that the voices of young people are heard and valued.

James Rimmer

Programme Manager, Universal

James has worked with young people in many different contexts since he was a teenager, most recently in a South London school as a teacher and in various leadership roles. He is passionate about seeing impactful change in local communities, developing meaningful relationships and empowering young people to be the best they can be.

Lerryn Eveleigh

Lead Young Consultant

Lerryn has worked for Participation People in a range of roles including as a young facilitator, researcher, inspector and pioneer. She loves working with young people and is passionate about inclusivity and allowing young people an opportunity to express themselves in a range of formats, so they can be best heard.

Priya Shah

Youth Voice and Influence Officer

Priya has worked with diverse groups of young people in various settings. Having worked with young people across three different London Boroughs over the years, she is passionate about empowering young people within their communities and beyond. Priya’s favourite part of her job is watching young people thrive by giving them the space to grow in confidence and bring their voices to the forefront. She believes that all young people should have opportunities to achieve and thrive regardless of their background and circumstances. Priya was also previously a drama teacher and loves working with young people in fun and creative ways.

Rasheeda Page-Muir

Youth Voice and Influence Officer

Rasheeda is a facilitator and poet with a background in community organising and youth engagement. Working heavily around themes of race, gender and disability - she believes passionately in community building and adopting an intersectional approach to understanding the various social and political challenges of the day. She is the founder and former director of the youth-led social enterprise Revolyoution London and has over 10 years’ worth of experience working directly with young people as well as providing youth engagement consultation for organisations across the UK.

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What our clients say

We’re fortunate to have worked with some truly wonderful people and organisations, across the youth participation and engagement sectors. Here are some kind words from just a few.

Sam Ponniah

Chair - Wandsworth Youth Council

"The Participation people are absolutely fantastic at engaging young people. The enthusiasm and passion they have for engaging young people is only surpassed by their fantastic planning and efficiency. They greatly inspired me as a young person to make loads of changes in my local community, while developing my skills all on a tiny budget!"

Joanne Rich

Youth Engagement Manager - Affinity Sutton

"Antonia and her team have been a delight to work with over the past couple of years. They have delivered training to different groups of our young people and always provide informative, but most importantly creative sessions. The creativity they utilise within sessions is so unique that I have asked them to train our team in the skills they use, as they are relevant to any area of community engagement."

Nisha Plaha

Senior Representation Officer - London Borough of Newham Council

“The Participation People contributed to achieving our highest election turnout in our seven year history of the Young Mayor scheme, standing at 73% of young people voting in the borough. I would recommend Antonia and her team to others looking to deliver similar objectives, particular when considering delivering youth engagement activities.”

Lily Macbeth

Youth Researcher - 16

"With Young Researchers I have learnt how to consider a target group in order to make a survey accessible. In the future I will have a better understanding of target audiences and this will help with public speaking and interview situations."

Umar Kankiya

Youth Voice Coordinator - London Borough of Newham

"If you are working in Youth Participation and don’t know The Participation People, you need to know them! They are going places. Fun, fantastic, passionate, enthusiastic. That’s them!"

Paul Armitage

Youth Marketing Lead - Manchester Commissioning Unit

"I’m always in awe of Participation People’s creativity, and their ability to inspire people to get on board with ideas and buy-in to the importance of engaging with stakeholders; even people who were initially on completely different pages."

Helen Killingley

Grant and Learning Manager - Spirit of 2012

"Participation People have embodied their motto “playful in practice, serious about solutions” to the full. They challenge and support Spirit of 2012 at every turn to maximise the work we do with our Youth Advisory Panel and empower the members individually and collectively to identify and achieve goals for themselves and for the organisation. An inspiration and pleasure to work with."

Clare Thomas

CEO - Hope Support

"They have been invaluable in adding focus and very user friendly tools to further our work of listening to and capturing our young people’s voice. They have delivered training to our young people as well as our staff and have included our young people’s thoughts and ideas in all the work that they have done across the County. "

Hanna Baxter, 18

Youth Researcher - Care Leaver

"Working with Participation People has opened so many doors for me, whilst simultaneously making me aware of issues within my own community. Participation People have opened my eyes to new jobs and opportunities that I wouldn't have considered before. They have helped me grow! I am now far more confident, have better self esteem and know how to influence decision makers. They are brilliant!"

Louise Clapton

Community Partnerships Coordinator

"Having attended and been motivated by a Participation People workshop at the Hospice UK conference in November 2018. We at Dorothy House Hospice Care have found working with the Participation People on our Youth Climate Report has been a really engaging and fun experience! A wide range of internal and external stakeholders had the opportunity to express their ideas and thoughts on how the hospice engages with young people and moving forward, develop this area of work through interviews and an interactive and lively workshop. We look forward to putting ideas into practice."

Sophia

Care Experienced Young Person - Aged 14

"Participation People are great, because they come to you. They speak your language. They will do everything they can to make sure you can get to a session or have a voice on stuff that matters. Not only that, but they help other people do that too. There were years when no one listened to me or what I wanted. Participation People changed my views and expectations of professionals. I now know that I can ask for what I want and have the tools to do just that. My future looks much brighter and that is thanks to Participation People."

Kieran Coleman

Care Leaver

"When Working on Projects with Participation People you gain lots of new experience and knowledge of the social care system but also you get to have you voice heard by many different professionals that are willing to listen and help make a difference for all young people. By working on a project with PP you don’t just get the experience and knowledge but also you gain a lot of new confidence along with making new friendships groups that you are able to share experiences with along with having the ability to say what you feel needs to be changed or how things should be done."

Richard Selwyn

Transformation Director, Birmingham Children’s Partnership

"Participation People have a modern approach to engagement that is refreshing. And their independent review of our system maturity will help Birmingham to further develop our co-production and co-design with children and young people."

Theresa Leavy

Dorset's Director of Children's Services

"Participation People approaches are refreshing, creative and inspiring and have enabled us to grow a culture of participation and we will strive to embed these principles throughout our services."

Juliette Rayner

CEO, ERIC, The Children’s Bowel & Bladder Charity

Working with Participation People helped us achieve our outcomes at ERIC, but also gave something directly to the young people themselves. Thank you so much to Alice and Emily for bringing such energy and enthusiasm to the ERIC Young Champions Project. The project report is now with our funders and we are keeping everything crossed that we secure second-year funding as it feels like we are only just beginning!

Laura Carswell

Makara Health, Account Director

Participation People delivered a superb session that allowed us to uncover insights and have a great discussion with a group of young people. Hearing experiences in young people’s own words and working with Antonia. Dynamic, engaging, and knowledgeable.

Najeeb Ahmed

Prevent Coordinator, Community Partnerships Unit, Hounslow

Firstly, a massive thank you to Participation People's team for the work done on this project. I think I speak for everyone here at the council and particularly the Prevent team when I say that we feel the project has been a huge success. Young people have helped us think through a different lens when it comes to Prevent and child exploitation. The work of the Young Facilitators has helped us identify where we can improve our offer for and with young people to help them feel safe and supported.

Ana Popovici

Director of Children's Services, London Borough of Wandsworth

Participation People have great expertise in engaging, developing and working with young people to ensure they feel confident in using their voices to ensure they have a platform to be heard. Participation People are able to bring together a collective and diverse range of youth voices through great projects across the country. They share best-practice learning and really demonstrate the importance of getting young people involved and engaged.