Inclusion as Prevention: South Lanarkshire
System reform
Action for Children, Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice, South Lanarkshire Council and The National Lottery Community Fund
The Inclusion as Prevention project is a partnership between South Lanarkshire Council, Dartington Service Design Lab, Action for Children and the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice. Together we are seeking to develop and learn from new approaches that can prevent young people coming into contact with the Justice System. At the heart of our approach is the inclusion of young people themselves, as well of practitioners, families, and the wider community, in the design and implementation of new programmes and services, ultimately seeking change across the wider system in South Lanarkshire.
The need
We know from evidence that there are several risk factors, from domestic violence to bereavement and life transitions, that can increase a young person’s likelihood of coming into contact with the Justice System. In turn, this can negatively impact both their wellbeing and life chances. Whilst there is support and many services which respond to these issues, we identified an opportunity in South Lanarkshire to develop more preventative approaches, that would intervene earlier in a child’s life and improve their chances of thriving.
Our response
We believe that including young people in decisions about what support is best for them is a fundamental right and one which increases the likelihood of the support being needed and wanted. Through this partnership we will be working together to engage with the local community, seek opportunity for systems improvement and to evaluate potential impact. We do this by combining deep participatory co-design work, with systems leadership, relationship building and ongoing learning. We are supported by a dedicated steering group who represent partners from key local sectors and organisations to drive towards sustainable change.
The partners in this project are Action for Children, Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice, South Lanarkshire Council and Dartington Service Design Lab. The project is funded by and The National Lottery Community Fund’s Early Action System Change initiative.
Our work started in 2019 and is concluding in 2024.
For more information, contact: