IGC Podcast: Defining the Present, Designing the Future: Youth Participation and Activism

I'll begin with you, Paul, by asking why do you believe that youth participation and activism is crucial in addressing global challenges, particularly in gender equality?

Paul Mensah Amanor

Thank you so much once again for having me on this podcast. For me, over the years I have come to see and realize and lived that youth participation and activism are very important because young people like me and several others in Ghana and all over the world, we bring fresh ideas, fresh perspectives, energy and creativity to the table. So we are often more open to new ideas. We are less bound by a traditional way of thinking. We are well suited to tackle every issue with much more creativity, flexibility and new ideas. I believe that youth are not just the future leaders, but are also the current leaders and their involvement ensures that whatever the solution we are looking for are inclusive and sustainable as far as gender equality is concerned.

Tess Tuitoek

Charlotte, from your perspective and from the perspective of an INGO and your experiences in the UN spaces, how have you seen youth participation evolve over the years?



Charlotte Stemmer

Yes, I think at the UN level here in Geneva, there definitely has been progress over the years. I think partly that is due to the work that NGOs like Plan and others have been doing, advocating for children and young people to have a seat at the table. And we definitely do see youth participation more and more on the agenda and many Member States and UN agencies are really aware of the importance of this now. I think I can see the change from when there was not really much thinking at all about youth involvement. Then it became kind of done, but in a more tokenistic or ad hoc way. And now slowly, but surely it is moving to be done in a more meaningful way. But of course change takes time. So I think we still have a long way to go to ensure that meaningful youth participation really does become systematic and institutionalised over here at the UN in Geneva.

Tess Tuitoek

Yeah, that's really insightful to hear from both of you. I'm glad to hear from both the institutional and from, you know, an actual youth activist on the ground, how it is important for meaningful youth participation to be on their agenda and for this to continue evolving. In your opinion, what are some of the key enabling factors that have supported your involvement in youth activism? How can we overcome potential barriers to your participation?

Paul Mensah Amanor

I believe that the key enabling factors would be or have always been access to education, that is number one. Mentorship, like what has been going on between Charlotte and I, it's been a very fantastic mentoring exchange. And opportunities for leadership development. I believe that having a supportive network, resources and platforms to amplify my voice and the voice of many other young people has also been very, very important and crucial to the Youth Empowerment agenda. Especially as it relates to gender equality. For example, an example in Africa is the fact that we are the fastest growing continent in the world in terms of youth and in order for us to reap the demographic dividends of an active youth force in the next two, three, four decades, we need to invest in young people, especially girls and prioritize their education and empowerment. In that we can reap all the benefits and everything that will happen for us to drive change and transformation on the African continent, which I believe will have a ripple effect on other parts of the world. So it's definitely empowerment, education, the space and the room for our voices to be heard on the decision making table. These are what I believe are the key enabling factors that have supported. My involvement in youth activism over the years.

Tess Tuitoek

And if you have experienced any potential, you know, barriers, how do you think we can overcome these barriers to youth participation?

Paul Mensah Amanor

Well over the years and I in Ghana where I am and where I grew up, what I have seen as very important or time-tested measures to overcome the potential barriers to youth participation is the fact that we need to create safe spaces for young people to engage. Without a safe space, young people will not speak up. And we know also need to provide capacity building opportunities like what we are seeing here today and others for especially young ladies, young girls from underserved communities in Ghana and other parts of Africa and, by extension, the world to speak. And we also need to push leadership across all levels, from the national to the regional to the international levels to address systemic issues like ageism and, you know, polarization of youth ideas where we are not allowed to bring our ideas to the table. Additionally, I think we have to also intentionally make efforts to include diverse youth voices and perspectives on decision making issues. What we are seeing over the years is you know, an expanded latitude for young people to share their voices on issues at both the national, regional and international levels. As far as the UN is concerned, we are hopeful that this can help ensure that everyone has a seat at the table because a young person like me in Ghana should have equal opportunities to represent my country and the voices of young people at the UN as much as someone in Liberia or Japan who is young like me, also does. So it's definitely creating safe spaces, making room for us to share our ideas, providing capacity, building opportunities and also making intentional efforts to include diverse voices of young people.

Charlotte Stemmer

To add on to what Paul said and here at the global level, there definitely are so many young people just like Paul who are demanding access to these spaces and also doing really amazing and innovative things to create their own spaces. But we do need decision makers to do more to create the enabling environment for this to happen. So I think there's a few things that kind of need to be overcome. The first is really around how we involve youth in these processes right from start to finish. It's not really enough just to invite a young person as a speaker. Young people need to be involved from the beginning, from the co-design and conceptualization, all the way through to the evaluation at the end. You know that can also involve the trend that we're seeing about having more young people on decision making bodies, that's much more meaningful than having kind of a tokenistic impact. And the second point I think is the same one that Paul mentioned about diversity and just making sure that when young people are involved, they're representing, the really, you know, diverse and intersectional nature of young people. The third point is around funding, so that's, you know, the reality. It really is important to have funds to allow youth engagement. This could be specific donor funds for this and that support the engagement. But I think also making sure that funding gets channelled to youth-led organizations is really important in this regard. And then the last one is, it's very practical, but things like support for visas, making sure that invitations go out in enough time because in some places you know, especially in East Africa, it can be a four to six month wait to actually get a visa appointment and it's very difficult to know in advance, you know who's going to be able to come in that kind of time frame. And also making sure that translation services are available, so that these kind of spaces are accessible to a diverse range of people.

Tess Tuitoek

Thank you so much for your answer and that is very true. Of course to create this diverse and enabling environments and to drive change we need you know from mentorship, resources, investments and funding and education. As well as you know, being really considerate about all these other aspects that come into youth participation, including visas and providing translations. Can you share some of your major achievements in the field of gender equality and activism?

Paul Mensah Amanor

For the past seven years, I have been leading a nonprofit foundation for educational equity and development, and what is really special about this movement is that it's youth-led and we have a strong volunteer team of 54 young people, innovating ideas in education and youth empowerment and sustainable agriculture for younger people and community, and by extension the country, Ghana. And so for me, it's just about being able to combine the rigor of living in Ghana as a student. I just recently completed my law degree at the undergraduate level. Being able to combine the rate of academic studies and you know, leading the youth organization that impacts at least 3000 children. I think it's really, really special to me. I also would say that one of the major achievements in the field of gender equality, especially is the fact that one of our initiatives we run at FEED is called Aspire, where we help young people to have an education through scholarships, empowerment and mentorship. And I've seen firsthand how important mentorship and empowerment are, especially for girls. So when I had this mentoring exchange with Charlotte, it's brought back with astonishing clarity how these young people are benefiting from the mentorship that we provide at my organization and you know, I can say it's excitement that we have retained like at least 70% girls in our programmes and 30% boys. Not because we are not focused on boys education, but we believe that girls have been systematically ignored and underserved. There have been instances where they do not have this access to education and empowerment opportunities. So it's really about the focus on girls and gender responsive education that provides opportunities for girls to participate in a lot of learning activities, including giving back to their communities.

Charlotte Stemmer

So for me I think one achievement when it comes to gender equality is that now girls rights are on the agenda at the UN. So this is something that Plan and lots of other organizations here in Geneva have been advocating for. And it means that girls are recognised separately as a group of rights holders. So they've got their own needs and ambitions, separate to just being a subset of children or women, which is how girls were often seen pretty. Obviously, I think one kind of concrete way we've seen this happen is the expansion of the mandate on the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women. So that's been expanded to include girls, so now it's discrimination against women and girls. And that working group have been really fantastic. They are systematically consulting with girls and they're also being a champion within the UN to put girls and young women's participation really front and centre. But I think, for me personally, like one thing that's been amazing is just to see the impact that young people can have when they do engage in in the UN policy spaces. Last December, when I just joined Plan, I was part of the Global Refugee Forum and I got the chance to meet Sidra, who is a 15-year-old girl and who joined as part of Plan’s delegation. So Sidra had actually been forced to flee her home country of Syria as a child, and she took refuge in Canada. And she was so inspirational. She had actually found art to be a really powerful tool in helping manage all the stress and the worry of settling in a new country. And she'd set up her own organization with her sister, really using art to raise awareness of children's struggles. So Sidra was part of a group of young people that Plan worked with to develop a youth manifesto before the Forum to really say what do young people want from this Global Refugee Forum? And it was Sidra who was selected from that group to come to Geneva for the event. So while she was here, you know, she joined lots of high level panels and she got to share these recommendations with decision makers. And I just remember one time she was on a on a high-level panel next to a minister from a donour government. And after she'd spoken, the minister actually just paused and he kind of put down his speech and said, I can't say this speech that I was planning to because, you know, I've actually realised that that my government has let down children who are, you know, facing these issues in crisis and I'm personally going to change that. So it was really powerful just to see, you know, the impact that it can have when young people do speak directly to decision makers to make this long term change we're looking for.

Tess Tuitoek

Wow, it's really amazing to hear that these amazing initiatives from the local, on the ground work that is being done by youth activists and to include their voices at the global level and to have you both and everyone champion girls and youth tribes in all your work. Lastly, in one sentence, I would like for each of you to reflect on your own journey. What do you think you would advise young leaders who are just starting out in this space as youth leaders, as youth champions? What advice would you give them?

Charlotte Stemmer

So this programme with the Youth Champions has been such an inspiration for me to get to work directly with young activists like Paul, you know, from my experience, I would say to have confidence and ambition. Demand and create spaces for your voices to be heard. And hold leaders accountable on youth participation.

Paul Mensah Amanor

Well, and for me, what has worked as a young activist in Ghana is for young people to embrace their unique voice. They should also start with what they have and, you know, look for the opportunities to expand and scale their work because the Internet is such a very incredible tool for you to leverage to do what you want to do in terms of the resources and opportunities there. Absolutely be fearless in the face of challenges and, you know, keep your head up. But, at the same time, take good care of yourself. You need to prioritize self-care and also find a community. Find a group of other change leaders and it could be within your community or online and connect with them because these are the fuel that will propel your journey forward as a young leader.

And I just want to add that it's been really fantastic connecting with Charlotte and she is such a very incredible leader who has shared so much of her life and ideas and thoughts and perspectives on very important issues with me. So thank you so much, especially to the IGC as well.

Tess Tuitoek

Thank you so much for that and thank you Charlotte for your answers. It is true that it is important for there to be continued and meaningful youth participation for us to demand for diverse voices to be heard. So, Charlotte, Paul, thank you so much for joining us today.

Charlotte Stemmer

Thanks, Tess. Thanks, Paul.

Paul Mensah Amanor

Thank you. Thank you so much.