Lesley Emerson was involved (as NI country lead) in organising this year's online conference for the Five Nations Network for citizenship education (www.fivenations.net). The network has been in operation for 21 years and is a regional network of the Council of Europe, bringing together citizenship educators from across the UK and Ireland. This year the conference theme focused on active citizenship for a hopeful future and in particular on young people as activists and change makers. We were delighted to have as guest speakers Aliya Irabor-York, founder of the UK based organisation 'Pupil Power' and Cormac Savage, President of the Secondary Students Union of NI. Both young people spoke of the need for citizenship educators to recognise students as rights-holders and to support the creation of platforms for change within schools and communities. 

Their inputs will be available shortly on the networks website: www.fivenations.net