IFGA26 Categories > Skill Development

Skills Development

Working on a project where building skills enabled young people to shape decisions?

This category is likely a good fit.

This category focuses on how skills development enables children and young people to take part in and shape decisions about place.

Projects may vary in scale and stage — from early ideas through to implemented change.

The key is that skills are a means to influence, not the end outcome.

What this includes

  • Skills enabling participation in decision-making

  • Training, mentoring or peer-learning linked to real projects or outcomes

  • Capacity building leading to influence

  • Pathways into design, planning or placemaking

What counts

  • Evidence that skills led to influence

  • Participation in real decision-making contexts

  • Outcomes linked to increased confidence, agency or ownership

What doesn’t count

  • Skills programmes without real application

  • Training without connection to placeor community

  • Learning without opportunities to influence decisions

  • Working on a project where building skills enabled young people to shape decisions?

If your work spans multiple areas, choose the category that best represents what was shaped. If it fits within two categories, submit each application separately as an original entry

Examples of strong submissions
These illustrate how building skills enabled children and young people to take part in and shape decisions about place.

  • Skills development enabled young people to contribute to real design or planning decisions.

  • Training supported participation in live projects or decision-making processes.

  • Young people used developed skills to influence outcomes in a project.

  • Capacity-building led to increased agency in shaping place.

  • Projects where skills directly supported meaningful involvement in decisions.

Eligibility

You can submit as a client, public body, or project partner — not just a delivery organisation.

Submissions open 2nd June 2026