Government should involve the youth in decision-making
What you need to know:
All over the world, the youth have been responsible for prompting a variety of social change, including influencing debate on matters of national importance, leading health sciences research and increasing access to post-secondary education.
However, despite their input, young people are increasingly disenfranchised from decision-making.
Yet, when the youth are actively engaged, particularly when they are given empowerment and development opportunities, there are multiple benefits for society.
Parliament and other public institutions have been debating what should be done to lower youth unemployment rates, yet government engagement with young people on policy development has continued to decline. Systems for youth involvement in institutional policy processes are usually faced with challenges of funding and execution which have persisted year in year out despite scientific evidence that clearly shows that involving young people in policy development leads to more appropriate and effective policies.
All over the world, the youth have been responsible for prompting a variety of social change, including influencing debate on matters of national importance, leading health sciences research and increasing access to post-secondary education. However, despite their input, young people are increasingly disenfranchised from decision-making. Yet, when the youth are actively engaged, particularly when they are given empowerment and development opportunities, there are multiple benefits for society. For example, more knowledge is generated and this makes young people more skilled. This, in turn, equips them to become productive members of society.
Governments, especially in Africa, have attempted to experiment with participatory governance models but more often than not, they default to what is referred to as managed citizenship. Where there are initiatives for engagement, these are defined for youth. A critical analysis of this engagement exposes a number of gaps like existing structural, conceptual, and cultural gaps that make it difficult to see the evidence of impact of such engagement.
NO INTEREST
Some people have argued that lack of youth involvement is often attributed to lack of interest. We beg to differ. The more significant barrier is the leadership’s capacity to listen to and work with young people. Sometimes, this is worsened by leaders who are unable or unwilling to address the causes of the challenges facing the youth. Those in positions of power often avoid collaboration and prefer to work as designated authorities, choosing who to work with as it suits their agenda. A more successful approach would be one in which the views of young people on issues are sought and welcomed. Young people are able to provide solutions because they are not bound by the barriers and limitations that at times beset the thinking of older people.
LOCAL ISSUES
Notably, Internet connectivity has empowered young people to increasingly form strong views and mobilise on local and global issues. This should alert the governments and other institutions that we have a youthful generation that has much to say and do. When young people are increasingly mobilised through issues-based and online politics, governments have an opportunity to develop robust policies for the future by engaging with their young citizens. However, a holistic and national level approach is required. This is particularly necessary to address broader policy areas such as the economy, in ways that will benefit the young people themselves. Some countries do this by ensuring that youth programmes receive significant investment. Some also encourage committees of young people to act as policy advisers for parliamentarians as well as in governance forums and institutions.
INSPIRE CHANGE
For governments to successfully engage with the youth, they must involve them in governance. We must have a crop of young leaders who inspire change or who have the ability to galvanise their generation to new ways of thinking and doing.
Young people should ensure they do not fall into the temptation of working within the failing system that has caused their problems. Rather, they should actively build new systems that work for them. We need vibrant, charismatic young leaders with a vision for change who are prepared to work outside the current system in order to drive real progress on a whole range of fronts.
Kellen Kiambati is a management consultant. [email protected]
Dr Anne Kariuki is a social scientist. [email protected]
Both are also lecturers Karatina University.
