Basic Skills and Learning Department for Education and Skills Information, resources and advice for young people and for people working with young people. Basic Skills Agency An independent charity, the Basic Skills Agency is the national agency for basic skills in England and Wales. Their website provides everything from programmes to improve basic literacy and numeracy, to resources for teachers and parents. BBC Skills Wise Exercises, games and quizzes to help you improve your literacy and numeracy. Learning, training and jobs BBC Learning Find a course, learn a language, build your skills in a number of areas. Plenty of other useful links too. LearnDirect Name a subject and LearnDirect has a flexible course for it. Choose to learn, when to learn and you can learn as quickly or as slowly as you like. Rathbone Learning and training support for people who are experiencing significant disadvantage. Programmes include work-based learning and training, life skills and 'Choices'. Real Work Real Play The website for Modern Apprentices. Learn on the job, build up knowledge and skills, gain qualifications leading to an NVQ, and earn money all at the same time. Skillset A great starting point if you are thinking about getting into media. Training, tips, support networks and useful facts about the business. need2know.co.uk The need2know website contains advice on relationships, student life, money troubles, travel and leisure, plus a wide range of tips and resources to help you on exams and gain work experience. Entrepreneurship Young Enterprise Young Enterprise runs a range of business and enterprise education programmes for more than 280,000 young people each year through the support of 3000+ businesses and 11,500+ volunteers. The Princes Trust Through practical support including training, mentoring and financial assistance, the Princes Trust help 14-30 year olds realise their potential and transform their lives. Youth Business International (YBI) Youth Business International (YBI) is a unit of The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum that helps disadvantaged young people realise their ambitions to become entrepeneurs. Youth work training UCAS UCAS is the directory for searching for courses in a higher education. It allows you to search for various youth work courses at different colleges and universities. YMCA Various YMCA colleges offer training courses in youth and community work. The National Youth Agency (NYA) The National Youth Agency (NYA) ensures the quality and development of youth work training at all levels. This is achieved through validation and annual monitoring of professional qualifications and endorsement of youth support worker qualifications. Youth Access Youth Access provides a unique programme of courses for practitioners who work with young people. The training is aimed at promoting good practice in providing high quality information, advice, and counselling and support services to young people. Youth Organisations British Youth Council (BYC) The British Youth Council (BYC) represents and involves a unique coalition of young people through their involvement as individuals or through their youth organisations. Clubs For Young People (CYP) Clubs For Young People (CYP) is a national youth organisation in the UK, promoting involvement, enjoyment and achievement of all young people. National Children's Bureau (NCB) The National Childrn's Bureau (NCB) promotes the voices, interests and well-being of all children and young people across every aspect of their lives. National Council for Voluntary Youth Services NCVYS is the independent voice of the voluntary youth sector in England. YouthNet YouthNet guide and support young people, enabling them to make educated life choices, participate in society and achieve their ambitions. Young Carers (YCNet) Join Young Carers (YCNet) for support, discussion and chat with other young carers. Fundraising UK Fundraising Fundraising information and resources for fundraisers. Fund-Raising.Com A website dedicated to helping those involved in grass roots fund-raising. VolResource VolResource aims to provide practical resources for people involved in charities, voluntary or community organisations, making use of communications technology such as this web site and their email newsletter. Just Giving Find out how you can raise more money and attract new donors with Just Giving. Volunteering G-Nation (Citizenship foundation) A website aimed at 11 to 16 year olds to develop the culture of giving and the issues of citizenship in the UK. Talk to others, play games, get the news, read top tips on getting involved to make a change. V We’re an independent charity launched to champion youth volunteering in England. Our aim is to inspire a million more 16–25 year olds to volunteer and enable a lasting change in the quality, quantity and diversity of youth volunteering. do-it Working from a massive database, this website offers volunteering opportunities across the UK, as well as hundreds of overseas possibilities. You can even get volunteer accreditation or find out how to 'do-it yourself'. Volunteering England Very helpful website that offers a range of resources for anyone who works with or manages volunteers, and for those who want to volunteer. It also provides related content such as guidance in applying for funding. YouthBank From the National Youth Agency, YouthBank gives money to young people to support activities that help their local community. Unique in that the decisions about who receives money are made by local young people themselves. eVolunteer Hundreds of volunteering opportunities across the UK, across a range of issues. Health Real Life Lots of useful information, tips, advice, quizzes and Top 10s. Check out the A-Z of life covering drugs, sex, your body mates, school and work. There's an A-Z for boys and an A-Z for girls. like it is Very complete site on sexual heath issues: contraception, illness, peer pressure, puberty, sexuality and more. YoungMinds YoungMinds is the national charity committed to improving the mental health of all children and young people. Talk to Frank For free confidential drugs information and advice 24 hours a day talk to FRANK Housing The Department for Communities and Local Government The Supporting People programe offers vulnerable people the opportunity to improve their quality of life by providing a stable environment. Foyer There are over 130 local Foyers supporting more than 10,000 homeless 16 to 25 year-olds each year, giving them a chance to realise their full potential. They enable young people at risk to escape the ‘no home-no job-no home’ cycle by delivering a holistic service that integrates accommodation with training, job search, personal support and motivation. Shelter Shelter help more than 170,000 people a year fight for their rights, get back on their feet and to keep and find a home. Homeless UK A website for advisors and the public about services that help homeless people. You can find information on over 8,000 services across the UK, including hostels, advice and support services. Additional Useful Information
Connexions If you're 13 to 19, this site is a good source for confidential advice, support and information via telephone, e-mail and web chat. You can also search on a wide range of topics, including learning, careers, health and relationships. Get Connected A 24 hour a day helpline for anyone in the UK age 25 or under. Helpline workers will give you support, advice and places to turn for a range of problems.
Directgov The Government's site, with hundreds of online government services - everything from applying for a passport to booking a driving test. Also has directories of local and central governments, and news you can use. There's also a section for young people with online government services, information on issues such as bullying, drink and drugs and lots more. After 16 A website for teenagers and young people in the UK with an impairment or disability. Lots of useful information on life after school, housing, jobs, further education, money, transport and leisure, and more. The Site The source for information on a range of things:careers, housing, drugs, money, sex, relationships and health. | 
The fifth Harry Potter movie that was released earlier this year dominated the National Movie Awards, winning three of the six prizes. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix won the award for best family movie. Emma Watson picked up best female performance for her role as "Hermione," while Daniel Radcliffe who plays the lead won for best male performance, beating Daniel Craig from the Bond movie, Johnny Depp, and co-star Rupert Grint. Rupert has this to say about losing to Dan: "Obviously I didn't expect to win, because I think Dan deserves it more than me." The winners were picked solely on public votes. The show will be broadcast on ITV1 on Saturday at 21.30 GMT.
Emma Watson has 
High in the Himalayas, the small kingdom of Bhutan has probably done more than any other country in the world to integrate the principles of sustainable development into its policies and programmes. Placing the environment at the heart of its constitution and all its development plans, it has remained a green oasis in an increasingly eroded mountain chain. Almost three quarters of its land is still covered by forest, which teems with wildlife. A quarter of this is in protected areas. Tourism is limited and industry is developed in harmony with the environment.
When democracy came to South Africa in 1994, more than 12 million of its people still did not have safe drinking water and 20 million had no sanitation. The new Government made this a priority. Within ten years it had brought clean water to almost 10 million, and will be providing it to all its people by 2008. Providing sanitation, an even greater task, is not far behind; the country intends to eradicate its backlog by 2010. In both areas it is far ahead of the targets set in the Millennium Development Goals, showing what can be done if the political will is there.
'Stop treating soil like dirt', read a bumper sticker. But in Africa, as in much of the world, hundreds of millions of acres of it have been overused. Harvests diminish on the denuded earth. Now researchers from the World Agroforestry Centre have developed crops that add nutrients to the soil. These 'green fertilizers' have doubled and tripled harvests for tens of thousands of poor farming families in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
After its tragic civil war and genocide, Rwanda has been building a new society for women as well as men. It adopted a new constitution guaranteeing equal rights for women, and has been repealing laws biased against them. By the end of this year equal numbers of boys and girls will be entering primary and secondary schools, meeting one of the targets of the goals. Nearly half the members of the lower house of parliament, and nearly a third of those of the upper house, are female, and special women's councils, elected only by women, have been created.
Brazil is famous for its favelas, the slums clinging to the hillsides of Rio de Janeiro and proliferating through its major cities. But now it may become equally well known for improving the lives of their people. The Brazilian Government has recently shown extraordinary commitment to making favelas better, and in 2001 passed a special law to create more equitable cities. It has set up a $1.6 billion fund to build new houses and improve slums, partly through small loans to help families improve their own homes. It started by upgrading 30 slums and the programme is to be greatly expanded.
China has the world's fastest growing economy. But it is also trying to grow while doing as little damage as possible to the earth's climate. Between 1996 and 1999 its emissions of carbon dioxide - the main cause of global warming - actually fell by a minimum 6 per cent, while its economy grew by more than 22 per cent. It has cut the amount of energy used for each dollar of production fourfold since 1980. And earlier this year it slowed or stopped the construction of some 20 power stations while investigations were carried out into their effects on the environment.
Millions of people in India no longer have to use bucket latrines, thanks to a voluntary organization that has developed a new, cheap, but sanitary lavatory. Sulabh International has installed the lavatories - which also save scarce water by needing only 2 litres of water for each flush, instead of the normal 10 - in a million homes, and has set up another 5,500 as public lavatories used by 10 million people each day. Some towns are so impressed that they have asked the organization to take charge of providing sanitation in their areas.
