District Fellows is the name given to the 16–20 year old age group the Woodcraft Folk, a UK-based educational movement for children and young people. It operates both on a local group level and as a semi-autonomous movement within the Woodcraft Folk. Woodcraft Folk is very strongly in favour of youth empowerment

Empowerment

Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, racial, educational, gender or economic strength of individuals and communities...

—to this end the 16–20 year old age group is largely run by the young people. District Fellows are often referred to with the abbreviated term DFs (dee-effs).

Organisation

Individual DF groups are usually based in a town or city, or in some cases a region. DF group meetings usually consist of a group of like minded individuals meeting up at a regular time and place and taking part in usual woodcraft activities such as co-operative games, organising events, workshops and discussions about the woodcraft folk's aims and principles and general socialising.

DF's also have a lot of national events. Mainly they're about chillin' and meeting new people, learning about political activism (if you fancy), raving, partying, and then some random business like fancy dress, morning yoga, arts and crafts and whatever else your imagination comes up with. Business events are where committee gets elected and decisions about which charities to support and allocation of funds are made, allowing everyone to be involved in the running of DFs.

District Fellows Althing

Althing is the annual DF decision making event, usually held in October. Any DF member is entitled to go to Althing, to vote on and/or propose motions and to elect members to the DF committee. It is named after the ancient Icelandic Parliament( Althing

Althing

The Alþingi, anglicised variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national parliament of Iceland. The Althingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in the world still extant...

 ), where anyone could speak.

District Fellows Committee

District Fellows Committee

Committee

A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...

 is responsible for overseeing the running of the District Fellows movement. It consists of thirteen Committee Members. Six of these are elected at Althing, a further six "Committee Member" people are elected here, and their roles are decided at 'Old/New' - the committee changeover event. The final member is the Regional Development Worker Rep, who is elected from the Regional Development Workers sub-committee. Each region or nation (London, South East, South West, East, Midlands, Wales, North East, North West, Scotland) has their own development worker, who is also elected at Althing.
Of the six elected at Althing, the roles are:

Communications Rep

Affiliations Rep

Projects Rep

Campaigns Rep

Fundraiser

Treasurer (A 3 year role, the first year of which the person is called "Shadow Treasurer")

The other roles to be filled, either by "Committee Members" or the already elected reps:

Chair

Vice Chair/Enforcer

Secretary

International Opportunities

Integrations Officer

Training

Events

Sustainability Rep


All positions (except Treasurer) are normally 2 year roles

Communications

The main form of Communication for DFs is now their Website

DF News was a seasonal magazine sharing news from within the Woodcraft Folk, mainly from the District Fellow age range. It was written mainly by members of the DFs and its editor was elected from the floor of Althing. It also featured stories that came from around the world that DFs feel center on the issues the Woodcraft Folk is concerned with. It was abolished in October 2009 to be replaced by The Zine.

DF News Archives can still be found on the Span That World website though.

See also

• Woodcraft Folk
• Co-operative Movement
• IFM-SEI
• Youth activism
  Youth activism
  Youth activism is when the youth voice is engaged in community organizing for social change. Around the world, young people are engaged in activism as planners, researchers, teachers, evaluators, social workers, decision-makers, advocates and leading actors in the environmental movement, social...
  
  
• Youth voice
  Youth voice
  Youth voice refers to the distinct ideas, opinions, attitudes, knowledge, and actions of young people as a collective body. The term youth voice often groups together a diversity of perspectives and experiences, regardless of backgrounds, identities, and cultural differences...
  
  
• Youth participation
  Youth participation
  Youth participation is the active engagement of young people throughout their communities. It is often used as a short-hand for youth participation in any many forms, including decision-making, sports, schools and any activity where young people are not historically engaged.-Coinage:Youth...