Wales’s Information and Campaigning platform for 11-25’s.

What was the problem?

Take yourself back to 2007, when youth information and services information in Cardiff was paper-based and often in language that wasn’t youth-friendly. Young people couldn’t access this info whenever they needed to, and information quickly went out of date.

The information available for young people was top-down – provided by adults, often “officials”, who were often unconnected to the real needs of young people.

Our approach

With TheSprout, we took it online and then some. We created a website where young people could share their news, views, information, advice, and opinions. This peer-to-peer advice was underpinned by the youth information and organisations’ directories that could now be updated and distributed much more quickly.

We created a youth-led Sprout Editorial Group, which steered the direction of TheSprout and had a say on all sorts of content on the site.

Outcomes

Today, TheSprout is still an information and blogging site, but it has evolved to co-designing campaigns with young people about things that matter to them. TheSprout’s platform encourages young people to think critically, be creative, and use their voices to share things they’re passionate about, like mental health and climate change. We also pay some young creatives to help us out.

Since 2020, we have co-created seven campaigns with 11–25-year-olds in Cardiff, including:

• #YouDeserve: Healthy Relationships
• The Future Is Feminist
• Never Give In: Mental Health and Gaming
• Cardiff Pride: More Than A Month
• Frisky Not Risky

TheSprout site has over 1400 articles and averages, 290,000 monthly visits and video views, and it also looks good! TheSprout also has a social media following of almost 9,000 across TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, attracting young people in Cardiff and professionals who wish to support them (as of 2021).

@feedthesprout

We decided to take TheSprout Wales’ wide in 2023, just after our momentous launch to TikTok, to reach more young people across Wales.

If you’re interested in working with us to co-design and develop digital information or campaigns with people, contact andrew@promo.cymru.