District Fellows

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—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 ), where anyone could speak.

District Fellows Committee

District Fellows Committee 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 voice
• Youth participation

External links

• Span That World (the official DF website)