Skip over main navigation
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
The Bytes Project | Tech for Change

Inspiring young change makers to hack their world for good

  • Twitter
Menu
  • News & Views
    • News
    • Bytes Blog
  • About Us
    • Who are we?
    • The Bytes Approach
    • Testimonials
    • What young people say
  • Our Work
    • Our Programmes
      • Positive Sparks
      • The Curiosity Lab
      • Peace Bytes
      • Girl Code
      • High Risk Youth Intervention
      • Outreach & On Street
      • Megabytes
      • Exodus 500
    • Qualifications & Training
    • Case Studies
      • Belfast Men's Hostel 2020
      • Rural Sparks 2019-2020
      • Peace Bytes - an SEUPB Case Study
  • Get involved
    • Share your story
  • Support our work
    • Partnerships
    • Grants and funds
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Press & Media
  • Admin
    • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
  • Rural Sparks – Reimagining the Future for LGBT+ Young People in rural Northern Ireland
  1. Our Work
  2. Case Studies
  3. Rural Sparks 2019-2020

Rural Sparks – Reimagining the Future for LGBT+ Young People in rural Northern Ireland

A project taking place under our wider Positive Sparks initiative, Rural Sparks sees Bytes working with small groups of young people looking to tackle issues specific to the rural communities they live in.

Young people living outside of major urban centres experience a range of unique circumstances that are often missed by organisations looking to engage with them. Basic issues such as a lack of public transport infrastructure, poor digital connectivity and a limited number of jobs available to young people can all contribute to social and economic isolation for young people in rural communities. This in turn can also make it more difficult for young people to advocate for themselves.

The Rural Sparks project aims to tackle this by seeking out and engaging with young people in rural communities and giving them a platform to come together, tell their stories and organise towards a common goal. One particularly good example of how Rural Sparks works is our engagement with young people from Dungannon, Co.Tyrone, who we worked with at Dungannon’s South West College campus. A mixed group of young people from Dungannon and other nearby rural communities, the group took part in sessions with Bytes over a number of months, both completing qualifications with us and taking part in the testing of our Positive Sparks listening platform.

We were able to identify that several members of the group experienced major challenges as members of the LGBT+ community, growing up in rural communities with little support or interaction with other LGBT+ young people. Having identified this issue through listening to the voices of individual young people, we were able to work with the group and explore the issues in more detail, with the young people working on possible solutions to the challenges faced by their peers.

The next step saw us facilitating the engagement of several group members with external partners, helping them to access funding from Ratio - a social enterprise that Bytes has an ongoing partnership with - to support their goal of organising Northern Ireland’s first ‘Rural Pride’ event in 2020. This event, Mid-Ulster Pride 2020, was seen as of vital importance by the young people, as although Northern Ireland has several long standing and well attended annual Pride events, they are focused on cities and larger urban areas. For LGBT+ people in rural communities, particularly young people, the visibility and sense of solidarity that such events help to generate would be an important first step towards tackling issues such as social isolation, bullying and poor mental health that the group themselves highlighted as being major concerns for LGBT+ young people in rural Northern Ireland.

The funding that the group accessed helped them to advertise - and produce merchandise to help support – the successful launch event for Mid-Ulster Pride 2020, which was held in February 2020. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions on public events force the planned parade, in summer 2020, to be postponed. Regardless, the work of the young organisers behind Mid-Ulster Pride is a brilliant example of young people reimagining their future and organising together around a common goal.

Published: 24th April, 2020

Updated: 22nd July, 2020

Author:

Related topics:
  • Case studies
Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Latest

  • Bytes Staff Journeys: Kevina McDonald

    Bytes Staff Journeys: Kevina McDonald

    Kevina McDonald talks about her career with Bytes so far and how she's changed over the three years she has worked on the PEACE Bytes programme.

  • Making connections online with Antrim & Newtownabbey PEACE Bytes

    Making connections online with Antrim & Newtownabbey PEACE Bytes

    This week we hosted an online sessions for young people to get to know participants from other parts of the Peace Bytes programme, with brilliant results!

  • Bytes Q&A: Alex Duffy on the challenges young people are facing

    Bytes Q&A: Alex Duffy on the challenges young people are facing

    Alex Duffy, a Youth Worker based in Derry-Londonderry, talks about his role as part of the Peace Bytes project.

  • Bytes Staff Journeys: Ryan Moorehead

    Bytes Staff Journeys: Ryan Moorehead

    In the first of a new series, Bytes staff member Ryan Moorehead to talk about his time with us and his journey with us from first being a participant in sessions with us at his local youth club, to being a full time Youth Worker with us today!

Related

  • Belfast Men's Hostel - Boosting confidence and self-esteem

    Belfast Men's Hostel - Boosting confidence and self-esteem

    An example of how we work with small groups, over a limit time period, to identify key barriers to success and equip young people to overcome them.

Most read

  • Bytes Q&A: Maria on joining Bytes during COVID-19

    Bytes Q&A: Maria on joining Bytes during COVID-19

    Maria Wilson, a Peace Bytes youth worker in Belfast, talks about the unique experience of joining Bytes just as the first lockdown started!

  • Accessibility

  • Bytes launches new project, listening to young LGBT+ voices with Cara-Friend

    Bytes launches new project, listening to young LGBT+ voices with Cara-Friend

    Starting this month, Bytes is working with Northern Ireland's leading LGBT+ youth organisation to gather the voices of young LGBT+ people.

  • Donate

    This is summary text, it is best kept to under 100 characters and should include keywords for SEO.

  • Privacy Policy

    PRIVACY POLICY

  • Bytes Q&A: Jenny on the Rank Foundation 'Time to Shine' programme

    Bytes Q&A: Jenny on the Rank Foundation 'Time to Shine' programme

    Our newest member of staff talks us through the Rank Foundation's 'Time to Shine' programme and how she hopes to benefit from it!

  • Bytes Q&A: Aidan on Youth Work in Lockdown

    Bytes Q&A: Aidan on Youth Work in Lockdown

    Bytes Youth Worker Aidan Quigley on youth work during lockdown and the challenges facing young people at the moment.

  • Cookie Policy

  • Derry & Strabane COVID-19 Update

    Derry & Strabane COVID-19 Update

    Update after new restrictions in the Derry and Strabane Council Area

  • Delayed Girl Code 2.0 to start in January 2021

    Delayed Girl Code 2.0 to start in January 2021

    The second year of our successful Girl Code programme - originally scheduled for 2020 - has been approved to run in an adapted form from early 2021.

Latest tweet

Sign up for our newsletter

Please enter your first name
Please enter your last name
Please enter your email address Please enter a valid email address (e.g. [email protected])

Find us

Belfast
Unit 5 The Filor Building
155 Northumberland Street
BT13 2JF
Belfast
+44 (0)28 9028 8810
[email protected]

Derry-Londonderry
1st Floor
14 The Diamond
BT48 6HW
Derry-Londonderry
+44 (0)28 7137 3374
[email protected]

Media Inquiries
[email protected]

Links

  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

The Bytes Project is registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC105711.
Registered Company No. NI027446. HMRC Charitable Reference No XR44520.