Lesson video

Hello everybody and welcome to your citizenship lesson with me Mrs. Baker.

I'm completing this unit with you today about where power resides in the UK and I know your other lessons have been taught really well by Mr. Miskle and Mr. Henson.

But they've asked me to come along and teach this lesson on charities and NGO's because they know how much I like talking about the role of these two important organisations within our communities.

So please meet me in just a moment when I tell you what you need for today's lesson and we'll get started in finding out about the important role NGOs and charities play in our communities and societies.

I'll see you in just a minute.

Welcome back everybody.

I'm looking forward to getting started today.

So all you need for today's lesson is a pen or pencil to write with and something to write on.

So let's find out what we'll be doing today and where this fits in with the unit that you have been covering.

Before we do that though, let's get our brain started nice and quickly.

What is the connection between these three logos? What do you think? Can you come up with one? I'm only going to give you a really short amount of time because you should be able to find this quite straightforward.

So what's the connection between the British Red Cross, Save The Children and Oxfam? Have you got it? Yeah you're right.

They are all organisations that help people.

In fact we describe them as non-governmental organisations, NGOs.

Some of you might have called them charities and certainly they have got a charity branch.

In other words, they fundraise, they have shops like charity shops where people bring things in.

But there's another connection between all three of these.

And that is that often people associate these organisations with supporting people who aren't in this country.

And people think about the fact that these particular organisations often go abroad to help when there's disasters or crises.

And they fight for the rights of people across the world in international situations.

So for example if there was an earthquake or if there was a famine, you would find some of these organisations there.

But in reality, these organisations work in communities that you and I live in as well.

So what we're going to find out today is how the workers from some of these organisations fit into our local communities and just where the power they have fits into our democracy as well.

Because it's really important to understand that organisations that fight for the rights of people and support people have as much power as those perhaps that make laws and rules.

So we're going to investigate that further today.

So as you know, in this unit we've been looking at the idea of where does power resides in the UK and we're up to lesson six now.

So if you've done all of those you'll be doing really well and hopefully you've got a really nice overview of how power fits into the UK and the fact that it doesn't just fit in to those halls at the government, in Houses Of Parliament in London, but actually power is found in all kinds of places including our local communities within our local councils and devolved into different nations within the UK.

So today we're focusing on this idea of the role of an NGO and a charity and the power they hold.

So exactly what are NGOs and charities then? Let's have a look.

How do charities and NGO's fit into civil society? And that's a term that we're going to discuss in a little bit more detail.

We're going to have a case study on Aid UK and Save The Children.

So we're going to look in particular at one charity and one non-governmental organisation.

We're going to look at the power and influence these organisations have.

And before you know it, you'll be at your exit quiz.

So these star words or these important concepts that you might like to make a note of as we go through the lesson include, charity, NGO and civil society.

And I'll explain what those mean to you in just a few moments.

And please do pause the video if you'd like to, to write your own definition or write the definitions I show you on the screen.

It's often really important to make sure you understand key terms like this.

So, let's start off with charity.

Lots of us are really familiar with the idea of what charity does and what a charity is but we need to be quite exact about the legal terms and the idea of what a charity is.

So a charity is a local, national or international organisation to help those in need and support the rights of vulnerable and marginalised in society.

The term also has legal status as charities are registered with the government receive some tax benefits.

So there is some legality when it comes to charities.

And you might've seen when you walk to a charity shop or when you see some paperwork from a charity shop that it has a registered charity number perhaps.

And that means that it's registered with the government, that it's an official charity and they have to follow certain rules and regulations in order to make sure they receive some tax benefits but also to make sure they're doing everything in a legitimate and specific way.

So you know that it's a really official charity in that way.

And charities cover all kinds of topics and issues.

Some focus on health issues, some focus on animal issues, some focus on children, some focus on adults.

There's a really wide range of charities but they all have one thing in common, they're helping people who have got some vulnerability and they often work for the rights of their issue.

So if it's animals, it'll be animal rights.

And if it's people, it'll be the rights of people whether that's people with a health condition perhaps like Alzheimer's, or perhaps like Cancer UK or Cancer Research UK and people will be focusing on those individuals of a specific part of our communities.

So let's have a look at an NGO.

An NGO is a non governmental organisation.

And it's a term you've probably already come across within citizenship.

It's a non-profit, voluntary group of citizens who work on a local, national or international level to achieve an aim.

They are not controlled by the government but they will often work with them closely.

So by being separate from the government, NGOs often get to investigate things more clearly, sometimes they're invited to places that a government organisation might not be, they might be a little bit more trusted by people.

If they're suspicious by government organisations or suspicious of government organisations, it might be that they have more of an ability to get into sort of organisations, especially when they're working abroad where some governments can be more suspicious of others.

But they will work closely with the government in order to influence policy and to see if they can change laws.

So again, there's a lot of power that resides within these non-government organisations because they will trying to change things for the better.

So if you haven't already, you can pause your video now and make a note of these two important definitions.

So we've talked about rights here and how charities an NGO's work for rights.

So let's have a recap of what a right actually is.

So human rights are the fundamental rights and freedoms that belong to every single one of us.

That's me and you.

And in fact, until you're 18, you have a separate set of rights which are just for children as well so you get even more rights, especially for young people.

Human rights apply no matter where you are from, what you believe in or how you choose to live your life.

So that's really important that human rights does apply to everybody equally because you're a human no matter where in the world you're from, no matter whether you're a man or woman, no matter what religion you are or if you don't have a religion at all, it doesn't affect your human rights.

Everybody should be treated in exactly the same way, according to these rights.

So what is a right then because sometimes we can easily say, Oh it's my right to do this.

But what does a right actually mean? Rights are entitlements that everybody has.

These protect our freedoms and the way we live our lives.

So one of our rights is a freedom to do something.

So for an example, as a child, you have a freedom to play.

Okay? So something that you might not have known.

Children have the right to play.

As an adult, we have a freedom to move.

Okay, so we have a freedom to move between countries.

We also have a freedom to take part in our democracy or take part in voting.

So we're allowed these freedoms and these should be protected.

They should be written in law and our government and other people should protect our freedoms to make sure we get them because everybody is entitled to them.

So now we've got this new term and this is called civil society.

Now this may be a term that you haven't come across before but really it's a very simple thing to understand.

So let's take a look at it in a little bit more detail.

So civil society refers to a group of organisations like charities and NGOs that are separate to government.

It's sometimes called the third sector because it comes after government and business.

So in other words, you've got government working in one group, businesses working in another group and then all the other organisations like charities and non-governmental organisations, they work separately.

So it's the third sector of our society okay? Many people work within civil society either as a paid employee or a volunteer.

Civil society has the ability to influence the policies of government and business and so plays an important role in democracy.

So although it's called the third sector and it works outside of where other people are, it has the ability to go to government and go to businesses with research, with evidence and say, hang on a minute, we're going to and influence what you're doing.

We're going to make a difference.

We're going to make an impact for the better.

Examples of civil society groups include Amnesty International's, trade unions and the World Wildlife Fund.

So you've got a range of groups there that come under civil society.

Amnesty International work for human rights, and that's for people across the globe.

Trades unions are there for the rights of workers, particular types of workers.

So each occupation has its own trade union sometimes more than one.

So for example teaching, if you work in communications, if you work in shops there's a shop workers union, if you work on the railways there's a rail workers union.

So there's different trade unions that understand the demands of your job and they will work as part of the civil society and then go to government and go to business to try and improve things.

And then there's The World Wildlife Fund, another NGO which works for, yep you guessed it, the wildlife.

So the environment and animals.

So you can see that the third sector is this really broad idea.

It's not nice and narrow, but there's a range of people that can take part in what we call the civil society.

Okay.

So over to task two then please everybody.

I would like you to write your own definition of what the civil society is.

You can use examples like I just did then to explain the kind of organisations that might be in the civil society and how they can help.

It shouldn't take you very long, maybe about three or four minutes maximum.

So please pause your video now and complete the task.

Well done everybody, hopefully you've got a really nice definition now of what the civil society is.

If you want to check on it, just go back to the previous slide and make sure you've got some of the key things.

So what is the role of charities and NGO's in civil society.

Civil society is more than just providing support for people in need.

When most people think of charities, they associate them with the relief they bring to people and the aid they provide.

So I expect many of you have been involved in charity work or fundraising for a charity.

And that's what we think automatically when we talk about charity don't we? We think about giving money and that money being given out to support people who have needs.

However many charities working in our communities do more than provide some financial or physical support to people they serve.

They can campaign for change to laws and take issues to court, if they have reason to.

They also lobby politicians for the benefit of their cause and to create a better society for everyone.

They work in many different areas, such as poverty, health, education, the environment and animal welfare.

Charities can only work on areas approved by the charity commission, a body that oversees the work of all charities.

So you remember at the start we talked about where charities have to be registered, it's with the Charity Commission and they're the ones that give out that registered charity number.

So have a look at these logos which belong to charities.

Can you work out what organisation and who they help? I'm not going to give you a long time to do this, I'd just like you to shout out and tell me if you've got it right.

Okay.

So I'm going to start at the top, hopefully you've identified the logos and you've worked out who these charities support.

Sometimes there's quite often a hint in the logo, isn't it? So let's start with Shelter and let's have a look at that H in Shelter and you should be able to see the H looks a little bit like a house.

Because Shelter is a charity that works for the homeless and rough sleepers.

And that organisation will also support people who are being made homeless and give them advice.

They advise the government when they're looking at policies on homelessness and how to prevent homelessness.

And they will also work with local councils and local communities in order to improve local homelessness policies.

So as well as supporting people who are homeless, they provide a lot of legal advice and advice on policies.

So again, doing far more than just providing aid.

What about the one with Great Ormond Street and the child crying? Does that give you a hint about what Great Ormond Street does? Yep.

You've got it.

So Great Ormond Street Hospital is a special child's hospital, it's a hospital for children.

And the charity is there to the work and to ensure that extra things that could be of benefit to the children and their families are there for them if they need to visit the hospital.

Greenpeace then, the logo about Greenpeace.

Did anyone work out what Greenpeace is about? So Greenpeace is a non-governmental organisation and it works internationally to protect the environment.

They do lots of things like organising protests but also providing reports about the state of the environment and providing advice for people in order to take action around the environment.

Let's have a look at the panda then because sometimes this is referred to as one of the most well-known logos and it's for the World Wildlife Fund.

So the clue's in the title isn't it, World Wildlife Fund.

They are an NGO as well and they support the work of people basically working for animals that might become extinct, also other organisations and governments and people trying to protect animals and wildlife in their countries.

So they are an international non-governmental organisation.

And perhaps the one you aren't sure about is the one in blue with the sort of laurel leaf around it and that's called UNICEF.

And that's part of the United Nations.

Okay.

And UNICEF works for the rights of children, it focuses entirely on children.

So it's all about an emergency funds, and it's the United nations international Children's Emergency Fund.

So if something happens, like an emergency, a disaster, a famine, a war UNICEF is able to go and provide instant help where and when needed.

So you can see that there's a massive range of where people work in charity and NGOs, it's not just about one thing.

Now we're going to focus in on our case study for today then relating to a charity.

Many of us see charities at work in our communities.

For example, supporting rough sleepers, or running children's play schemes or youth groups.

One organisation you may be aware of is Age UK.

Age UK provides a range of services for the elderly in the community.

It also works by lobbying the government to try and improve and bring in services that are of benefit to the elderly.

You may have come across the term lobbying before and just to remind ourselves, it's when you try and influence the government, you try and help them to see your idea.

And it's a really important way that we as citizens are able to express our power and influence over the government.

Because if we're successful when we lobby, then they may change laws or write new policies based around some of the ideas that we're able to give them.

So it actually gives us a really strong position in terms of power, and for a charity to be able to do that, that shows us just how powerful charities can be.

They are able to lobby and then their ideas about how to protect the rights of people they focus on is reflected in government policy.

So here's some examples of how Age UK gets involved and think as we read through this, how does this show that they have power? So Age UK attend an all parliamentary group for ageing and older people.

An all parliamentary group, which is sometimes called an APPG, is a group of MPs from political parties that investigate issues and other interested people will attend.

During their meeting, a range of issues are discussed and reports are then written, which can be read by anybody including the government and policy makers.

Recently, the APPG has discussed decent homes for the elderly and how people can be supported during the pandemic.

So during the pandemic of 2020, obviously people were concerned for the elderly especially if they were living on their own.

So the APPG did a special investigation, a special report into that issue and Age UK were able to discuss their ideas and talk about the work they were doing to support the elderly through that pandemic.

In addition to trying to influence politicians and policy makers, Age UK carries out research that can inform policies and support the older generation.

For example, they research impact of poverty, poor housing, loneliness and isolation on old people.

Local branches in communities also offer practical support.

For example, shopping, helping with chores around the house, running social activities to prevent loneliness and operate a telephone helpline.

So you can see that Age UK carry out a whole range of issues that are important to helping the elderly and the older generation within our communities.

Some of them are about providing aid and relief to people, so immediate support, and some of them are about more long-term support and influence in the government and policy makers.

Okay.

So next task then please everybody.

Pause the video to complete your task.

Create a mind map of the services and other activities that Age UK undertakes.

This should probably take you about four or five minutes.

Pause your video now and complete your task.

Okay.

So here's some feedback from task three.

Hopefully you've got some, if not all of these ideas.

If you've missed any out, please do add them to your diagram as we go round.

So, Age UK take part on the APPG on ageing and older people.

They help support people with shopping, help with chores.

They organise things for social activities so people don't suffer from loneliness.

They give practical support, they organise telephone helplines and research and policy influence.

So in terms of holding power, really the ones that hold power are the pink one and the green one, the APPG involving MPs and the research and policy that then can be read by businesses, and policy makers and the government.

So it's really important that the charity is involved in that work as well as working immediately within the community.

So, let's have a recap of what political power means if we're talking about people being powerful.

The ability to influence decisions, people or a course of actions.

In politics we often talk about people in positions of power like Councillors MPs or the Prime Minister.

So we say these people are in power because they are able to make important decisions that affect people's lives, they wrote policies, they approve laws and that often affects many of us all at once.

Influence is the ability to get your message across to people in positions of power and as such become powerful yourself.

Now this is so important and I think it's so exciting if you consider the fact that if you are able to use your influence and get your message across to the Councillors locally, to the MPs, your constituency MP, the person that you can vote for, maybe even other MPs, then ideas that you have could actually go into policy that affects the whole country.

And that's what people do working for non-governmental organisations, NGOs or charities.

They put their ideas and their research forward to people with power and then those can influence policy.

So it's a really excellent way for you to show that you have power.

So moving on to task four then everybody.

What power does Age UK have? Acting as a charity within our community supporting people, does Age UK have any power and influence? Look at your mind map and decide which of the actions that Age UK take, show they have some power in our communities to protect the older generation.

Write a short paragraph with your response.

So remember the clues I gave you when we looked at our mind map.

Now you just need to write a short paragraph, no more than three or four minutes to explain how Age UK have power and how they use it.

So make sure you're using the term power and influence in your response.

Pause your video now and complete the task.

Okay everybody, here's a quick example of something that you might've written.

Don't worry if yours isn't exactly the same but do add to your answer if you think something I've written here would work nicely for yours.

As a charity, Age UK does hold power through its actions.

By taking part in the APPG, the charity tries to ensure that the experiences, needs and rights of the older generation are represented and considered by politicians who make decisions and pass laws.

Their work on researching the needs and issues affecting people is also important as this provides the evidence which can be used to inform decisions that are made by government, businesses, health and social care providers and other organisations who work with older people.

So there you can see that actually as a charity they are really quite powerful.

Although people might recognise them for their work with mini buses, taking people on days out or sending someone round as a handyman to help out with chores when somebody can't do it.

There's a lot of other things going on with Age UK and they're able to influence people and create change for the better.

So let's move on to a case study of an NGO and we're going to focus on Save The Children.

So save the children's well-known organisation, who are working for the rights of young people.

You may be familiar with their television campaigns in places such as Syria and different countries in Asia and Africa.

However, Save The Children also work within communities here in the UK.

Let's take a look at one example of their campaigns.

Now this comes from the Save The Children information about how they're working in Scotland.

"We're empowering children and families in Scotland "to create stronger communities "through our Children's Places Programme.

"Focusing on key areas of childhood wellbeing, "the programme uses tailored engagement sessions "to capture children's understanding of their community "and their representation." "In turn, "this allows families and the wider community "to shape local services "that best support children as they grow." And can you see there that comment about the fact it allows the wider communities and families to work together with local services.

So here we've got Save The Children encouraging people using their power and their influence to get the local community and local services to work together to make sure that these children's rights, things like their health and their wellbeing are all protected.

So what's the impact there? The programme focus on the effects of poverty on children.

For example, the effects on health and wellbeing or an achievement at school and what steps to take and try and reduce the gaps between those affected by poverty and their peers.

From the work undertaken, a number of reports were written which highlight how in future other communities supported working with families and children.

These reports can be shared with politicians and includes suggestive policies that can be put into place to help children affected by poverty across the UK.

Save The Children also works with local authorities to advise them on childcare policies and best practise.

So here again we can see the power of Save The Children through working with local authority and writing policies on what we refer to as best practise.

So in other words, the best ideas that we have.

This is an example of an NGO working with those in power to create change and influence the future.

And remember, this is happening in our local communities, not working abroad which is what people often associate with Save The Children, but they also work here in the UK too.

Okay.

So on to task five then everybody please.

How important are NGOs and charities in our democracy.

So this is going to be a bit of extended writing for you now.

In your answer, try to include the civil society, different roles of charities, the different roles of NGOs, the level of power these organisations hold.

Okay.

So because it's extended writing you should probably be looking to write for about eight to 10 minutes and there should be a sort of introduction, the body of your writing and then a conclusion that answers the question, how important are NGOs and charities in our democracy? You can pause your video now to complete the task.

Well done everybody.

Now here's an answer that you can compare your answer to.

Feel free to add to your answer as you go if you think you can perhaps expand this a little bit or if you have something similar, then do mark it as we go along as well.

NGOs and charities play an important part in our democracy and they are part of what is referred to as civil society.

This is separate to government and business and includes various groups and in addition to NGOs and charities.

These organisations offer aid and relief to different groups.

However, in addition to this, they can do far more.

Charities for example, can support individuals who are in need or marginalised with finance and practical support.

In addition charities also lobby politicians and those in power, sometimes taking cases to court.

For example, the Citizens Advice Bureau.

CAB provide legal help for people and ensure they know their rights.

This can have a lasting impact on communities and society as a whole.

NGOs often work for the rights of people and with other organisations.

As they are not connected to the government, they are able to carry out research and investigate issues freely.

They can also bring different groups together to complete work and research.

This can be used to work with politicians and local authorities to make plans and support people in the future.

As these groups both have the ability to lobby policy makers and present evidence to politicians on a local and national level, their power goes beyond short-term relief for people in need and protecting rights.

Therefore, the organisations have the power beyond providing relief and aid.

They can have a lasting impact.

And I think that's what's really important when we think about NGOs and charities, it's not just like this sticking plaster effect of where we'll make it better for a little while by giving people a meal because they're homeless.

An NGO and a charity also have the ability to provide that immediate relief, but also look at why someone's homeless, write a new policy to prevent someone from being homeless and lobby the government to try and make that policy part of a new law.

So it's making a bigger picture.

Okay.

So amazingly, we've come to the end of today's lesson and you've come to the end of your unit, Where does power reside in the UK? So you've actually covered a lot of things in six lessons.

I hope you're feeling really proud of yourself.

The main message from today's lesson I think is the fact that you really need to know if you ever put money in a charity box or you get involved with a NGO, it's not just about doing something for the short term or just helping out in a small way, but the work of charities and non-governmental organisations is really far reaching and these organisations have the ability and the rights to protect lots of people in our communities and they have power and influence over our policymakers and our politicians.

And you yourselves could get involved with NGOs and charities and be able to express your views and have your influence taken into consideration.

If you'd like to share any of your ideas on this, or any of the work that you've done today then we'd love to see them.

Please ask a parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter by tagging us in @OakNational and using the hashtag #LearnWithOak.

It's been really great working with you guys today and I hope you've enjoyed our lesson.

There's one final thing that you need to do for me and that is pop over to your exit quiz and show us exactly what you've learned from today.

Until I see you again in another citizenship lesson, well done everybody and goodbye for now.

Take care.