Why is YAFNet committed to youth participation?
Simply put, it is to make sure that all strategies, programs and projects to reduce poverty benefit all groups of society, including children and youth. This is because youth participation:
* Leads to better decisions and outcomes. Young people have a body of experience unique to their situation – and they are social actors with skills and capacities to bring about constructive resolutions to their own problems.
* Promotes the well-being and development of young people. It is by questioning, expressing views and having opinions taken seriously that young people develop skills, build competences, acquire confidence and form aspirations – all part of a virtuous circle leading to development.
* Strengthens the commitment to and the understanding of human rights and democracy. Young people need to experience and experiment with the rules of democracy, e.g. in schools, communities or the workplace to be able to participate meaningfully in society understanding both the rights and duties. This is even more critical for young people in countries going through transition from authoritarian rule or in countries coming out of conflict.
* Protects young people. For example, in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention well-informed and knowledgeable young people engaging in peer-to-peer activities are central to preventing the disease from spreading.
But young people lack most of the processes through which adults can articulate their concerns. In very few countries do young people under the age of 18 have the right to vote. They lack the power of the large commercial lobbies to influence government. They lack access to media and the courts. They are rarely members of trade unions or professional organizations that may negotiate on their behalf. Evidence does not support the claim that adults in either the public and private sphere always make decisions in the best interest of young people.
For these reasons, a conscious effort must be made to include views of young people and to strengthen their participation in decision-making. However, youth participation may take many forms.
TheYAFNet knows participation as “a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives and the decision and resources which affect them.”
Specifically, youth participation is a process whereby young people influence, and share control and responsibility over decisions, plans and resources, which affect them. There is a distinction between two forms of participation:
* Social participation relates to influencing societal organizations and their activities (e.g. schools, sport clubs, NGOs or the work place).
* Political participation relates to influencing local, regional, national and international politics through membership of political parties, being a candidate and/or exercising the right to vote in elections, referendum, etc.
Youth empowerment is a process of capacity-building needed to partake in society. Youth empowerment means youth participation in formal and informal decision-making, but also the participation of young people in society, through access to education, employment and health, as well as to resources, e.g. land or credit. Empowering young people means allowing them the opportunity to make decisions that affect their lives – allowing them to be active agents for development and change.
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