PLEASE NOTE: Our funding supports training to be delivered to residents of Scotland only. Please enter your email address when asked, as we will email you the Zoom link and passcode 24 hours before the training. This may go into your junk mail box folder – please keep an eye out for it

In part 3 of our Digital Training series you will start to think about migration of current activity pre – COVID-19, identify emerging needs of young people, avoid duplication of services with a review of current youth work policies within a digital space and in relation to remote working.

We will cover:

• Identify needs V Online duplication

• Digitally excluded young people

• Safe guarding staff and young people online

• Child protection, lone working and GDPR policy

• Opportunity for Q&A

Darran Gillan – Youth & Community Development Manager of Paisley YMCA

"As one of Scotland’s leading influencers of digital youth work and digitally based youth culture my work through the YMCA now takes me across Scotland to develop digital youth work models to other YMCA’s and through a number of speaking engagements across the UK, Europe and Asia.

Within my current role I have developed Paisley YMCA into a digital youth work organisation with the aim of supporting young people to reach their full potential through digitally based cultural and educational programmes that develop an entrepreneurial spirit through our award winning iEnterprise youth business incubator and Makerspace Paisley, a DIY environment where young people gather to create, invent using digital technology.

In 2016 my team and I created the first weekly Coderdojo code club in Renfrewshire and now coordinate six code clubs across the local authority in partnership with Renfrewshire Libraries.

In the same year we launched the first mobile digital youth incubator called iEnterprise, where young people aged 11 to 18 identify a need within their community and use digital technology as a tool to develop and implement their ideas.

In 2017 I set up the Paisley Digital Access Hub, where we support senior members of our community, retired and over the age of 55 with basic digital skills.

At the beginning of 2018 the team and I launched the first digital makerspace where young people create, invent and build anything from robots to rockets in a custom digital space in partnership with Microsoft, Google and YouTube.

The above actions resulted in Paisley YMCA being recognised as an influential digital youth work organisation twice nominated as ‘Digital Charity of the Year' at the Digital Leaders 100 Awards in London in 2017 and 2018, and under the 'Demonstrating Digital' category at the SCVO Scottish Charity Awards in 2017. Last year as leader of Paisley YMCA, I won the digital youth work category at the 2018 YouthLink Awards for my innovative approach to youth unemployment through the iEnterprise youth business incubator and this year team Paisley YMCA where nominated as team of the year at this years YouthLink Awards.

When I’m not managing Paisley YMCA or booked for a speaking engagement I’m an associate lecturer at the University of Glasgow teaching Youth and Community Development MSc students."