Young Leaders

Established during Scotland’s Year of Young People in 2018, the Young Leaders of the Scottish Wildlife Trust have gone from strength to strength. The Young Leaders aim to ensure young peoples’ voices are heard, and to help the Trust to engage with young people across its work.

Who are the Young Leaders of the Scottish Wildlife Trust?

The Young Leaders is a group of Scottish Wildlife Trust members aged 18-30.

Have a question?

For more information about this programme, please email the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Engagement Officer Rachel Faichnie, rfaichnie@scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk

“I loved being a part of the Young Leaders of the Scottish Wildlife Trust for so many reasons. It was a great experience and allowed me to be part of a network of like minded people, engage the Trust with more young people and ensure their voices were heard, alongside building my own confidence and knowledge within the conservation section”

Emma Steel, previous Young Leader

Meet our Young Leaders

The Young Leader’s believe that nature must be protected and restored, and it is essential that young people are empowered to be involved in nature recovery.

To help achieve this, the group has five core goals:

Communicate about the climate and biodiversity crises
Involve young people in decision-making and amplify their voices
Engage young people with nature and wildlife in Scotland and empower them with the tools and skills to take action
Create networks and communities through social media and events
Contribute to and amplify the work of the Scottish Wildlife Trust

Some of the projects our Young Leaders have worked on include:

Designing our Conservation Awards to provide young people with work experience to help them get into the sector
Organising workshops and webinars to communicate about the climate and biodiversity crisis
Delivering and supporting at events for volunteers
Running the Young Leader’s Twitter Account to connect with other young people on social media and advocate for change.
Developing Young People’s Nature Assemblies to gather young people’s voices ahead of COP26 in Glasgow. This led to the creation of the Youth Manifesto which sent a message to leaders at COP26.

In addition, the Young Leaders have access to optional opportunities across the different teams of the Trust, to help them improve their skills and experience. Attending these opportunities allows them to represent the Trust and continue to ensure young voices are represented and heard. For example, the Young Leaders have attended parliamentary receptions, helped with school visits and other events, written content for blogs, and much more.

Young Leaders have a role in the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s decision making, including attending our Conservation Committee. We are also delighted that two of the team were elected to our Council of Trustees in 2020. This will help the Trust to ensure that young peoples’ views are represented at all levels.

For snapshots of our work and links to content, please look through the photos below!