This article is written by Willice Onyango, Executive Director, The Youth Café.

  • The problem: During the first Summit for Democracy, only 28 governments committed to youth in general and even less to youth political and civil participation. This is why The Youth Cafe, as a member of the Youth Democracy cohort, developed a menu of possible commitments to help prioritise, facilitate and enhance youth civic and political participation.
  • Why it matters: Young people are the future of democracy for the world. Roughly 52% of the world's population is under 30 years old. Therefore, engaging youth in dialogue, actions and decision-making of all the cohorts that continue beyond the second summit contributes to better diversity and the creation of innovative ideas.
  • The solution: The Youth Cafe, as part of the Youth Democracy Cohort, has developed 33 actionable and specific recommendations provided as a set of policy options for participating governments in the Summit for Democracy.

Empowering and engaging youth around the world

With 50% of the world's population under 30, it is worrying to note the substantial disengagement from democracy in this demographic. In order to save the situation, The Summit for Democracy, in collaboration with The Youth Café, as part of the Youth Democracy Cohort, has developed a commitment model dubbed the ‘Menu of Possible Commitments’. This menu aims to help interested states and international institutions create an enabling environment where young citizens, particularly girls and young women, can succeed and safely participate in democratic processes without hindrance.

Far from being a niche issue, young people’s disengagement from democracy is a cross-cutting problem affecting all political and civic engagement levels.

These model commitments were put together through a consultative process involving democracy support organisations, youth representatives and youth-focused organisations from all continents. As such, the Menu of Possible Commitments also includes commitments concerning the broader context of human rights and democracy.

A menu of possible youth commitments for governments

The possible commitments developed by The Youth Cafe, as part of The Youth Democracy Cohort, have been broken down into five themes which are: prioritising youth voice in governance; supporting youth in government; supporting youth freedom of expression; promoting a culture of youth political participation; and promoting a culture of human rights amongst youth. Under each thematic focus area are actionable and specific recommendations provided as policy options. These commitments lay out clear pathways that nations and interested institutions should take to improve youth engagement in civic and political processes:

  1. Prioritising youth voices in government
  • Ensuring youth input is included in legislative reform processes,
  • supporting the creation of All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) that include young politicians or working with young citizens on the issues selected by them,
  • strengthening national capacities at all governance levels to work with youth,
  • strengthening the independence, transparency and inclusivity of National Youth Councils and similar coordinating structures of youth organisations,
  • and create mechanisms to hire young people into governmental roles.
  1. Supporting youth in government
  • Adopting or strengthening fairer laws on political financing and monitoring their implementation to make youth more included in politics,
  • substantively involving youth in parliamentary processes,
  • incentivising political parties to create inclusive environments for young people, ensuring that they offer meaningful political roles to their young members, and supporting young candidates running for office,
  • bringing together youth representatives from all political parties to adopt a pact focused on rejecting disinformation campaigns and political violence ahead of elections,
  • monitoring and providing transparency on the real costs of running for office, educating youth on the impediments these costs represent to the renewal of political life in a given country, or cultural barriers to entry for running for office, especially for young people,
  • establishing youth quotas which promote inclusive youth engagement,
  • entrusting competent young officials with policymaking tasks, jobs and positions,
  • adopting inclusivity and transparency processes for equal opportunities to serve as an official in public service and government.
  1. Supporting youth freedom of expression
  • Helping young advocates, artists, journalists and bloggers enjoy peaceful freedom of expression by strengthening the legal frameworks and enabling safe civic spaces,
  • promoting youth access to voting by facilitating access to citizen ID and the inclusive registration of voters via digitised civil and voter registries, and systematising the link between registries,
  • accrediting young citizens to observe democratic institutions and processes and advise on possible reforms.
  1. Promoting a culture of youth political participation
  • Supporting Election Management Bodies (EMBs) to identify and implement voter registration systems which best enfranchise first-time voters,
  • working with EMBs and coordinating agencies responsible for processing ID cards needed for voter registration to ensure young voters can receive these and are empowered to cast ballots on election day,
  • identifying ways, alongside EMBs, to diversify sending Countering Violent Extremism election-related messages targeting first-time voters through various dissemination mechanisms, including all media outlets,
  • connecting EMBs with educators and relevant ministries to incorporate youth participation in election information into formal school-based lesson plans,
  • improving first-time voter experiences to sustain voter turnout in the long run, including potentially lowering the voting age,
  • developing participatory mechanisms targeted to young people,
  • supporting civil society organisations to involve young people in key democratic processes,
  • supporting EMBs in selecting accessible polling stations where possible and developing a plan for making all polling stations accessible in the future,
  • designing and delivering voter and civic education programmes with a focus on the unique experiences of young people,
  • collaborating with and encouraging other governments, to protect civil freedoms,
  • facilitating civic education that promotes young people’s understanding of their civic and political rights.
  1. Promoting a culture of human rights among youth
  • Committing to ending all forms of discrimination against women,
  • addressing the problem of trafficking of women and girls, as well as all forms of gender-based violence,
  • committing to incorporate democratic governance concepts and human rights issues in secondary school curricula,
  • ensuring gender equality in youth political participation.

Way forward and next steps

Comprising 33 actionable and specific recommendations provided as a set of policy options for participating governments in the 2023 Summit for Democracy, as well as other interested governments or international institutions, the Menu for Possible Commitments is there to boost youth civic and political engagement through prioritising, facilitating and enhancing youth civic and political participation.

The diversity of focus areas reflects the current state of youth political and civic engagement because, far from being a niche issue, young people’s disengagement from democracy is a cross-cutting problem affecting all political and civic engagement levels.

In further stages, the Youth Democracy Cohort plans to conduct or support actions meant to promote these possible commitments, advocate for their adoption, and assess their implementation at the national or regional level.

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