In the area of human rights advocacy, young people are always at the forefront of the struggle be it in the Philippines and in other countries. For example in Burma, thousands of student activists have sacrificed their lives trying to topple the military dictatorship, ending up either political prisoners or refugees. Here in the Philippines, various issues are being responded to by young activists. These issues range from the lack of access to quality education, globalization, child soldiers, violence against women and girls, discrimination and so on and so forth. Be it through direct actions, lobbying and human rights education, young people are gradually becoming important actors who are playing roles in varying levels.
But one thing is missing. While we address so many social issues, we tend to forget or alienate issues that directly affect us young people as a sector. And one of which is our right to participation.
Why The Need to Encourage Young People to Participate?
Young people like us are exposed to various problems, human rights violations specifically. These include the concerns mentioned previously. One commonality among those issues is that we young people are victims or potential victims. As victims, most institutions provide us with so many interventions from relief to psychosocial help to legal assistance. Thus, we all end up as beneficiaries of both government and even non-governmental organizations.
As a young human rights activist, it is my continuous advocacy to let other young people and even institutions realize that we are stakeholders. Being stakeholders, we have the capacity to identify, plan and implement interventions for our benefit. We should no longer be on the receiving end; we have to act for ourselves. “Youth problems addressed by youth actors.” This is the unwavering battle cry of HRYAN.
On the other hand, our participation is important because we benefit from it. It is sheer hypocrisy on our part if we do not think of our own interest every time we get involved in any endeavor. Yes we do not have any financial gains out of activism. But non-material benefits that will contribute to our overall development as a person overweigh this.
What do we benefit?
1. Develop as sense of social responsibility and self-fulfillment.
2. Broadened perspectives. Through getting involved in activism, we dialogue with other young people who could even have opposing viewpoints. This would eventually help us to become tolerant and open minded. Of course, the more we get exposed to other ideas the meatier our own knowledge base would become.
3. Capacity building. We could acquire new skills such as conflict resolution, lobbying, research, training and even project management. Who knows, this may even lead to a golden gate of career (even political) opportunities and advancement in the future!
4. Empowerment. Need I explain this?
Furthermore, by participating we exercise one major human right that has been unarticulated for so long. Our participation is our human right. It is a more legitimate reason compare to the “Jose Rizal-ish” clichés.
Clarifying Some Concepts: Human Rights Framework for Participation
Many United Nations conventions stress people’s participation without discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, class and, of course, AGE. For example is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: The right to vote, freedom of expression, the right to join associations, the right to be informed, the right to contribute to the development of oneself, his/her community, country and the entire world. These are clearly stipulated in that convention.
Another is the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The following are salient provisions that legitimize our participation.
Article 12: “The right of the child who is capable of forming his or her own views, to express those views freely in all matters concerning him or herself, with those views being given weight depending on the age and maturity of the child.”
Article 13: “The right to obtain and make known information and to express his or her views unless this would violate the rights of others.”
Article 15: “The right to meet up with others and to join or set up associations, unless the fact of doing so violates the rights of others.”
Basically, this tells us that we have the right to be informed. And based on such information we have the freedom to analyze and come up with our own perspective and that we can express freely our own opinions and organize ourselves to further our opinions. Societies and institution have the responsibility to listen and consider our perspectives. But of course, our efforts should always be intended for our benefit and the benefit of others.
Participation… What does it mean?
Participation is both a right and a responsibility. As a responsibility, we exercise participation to contribute whatever we can for the benefit of our community and the larger society.
Roger Hart, a child rights advocate, was the first one who came up with the first comprehensive definition of participation. He defines it as the “process of sharing decisions that affect one’s life and the life of the community in which one lives. It is the means by which democracy is built and it is a standard against which democracies can be measured.”
It is a process leading towards empowerment. It is an end goal, a fulfillment of our human right.
Being a process, it entails the following:
1. Start by believing in our own youthful selves, affirming that we are active participants in everyday life.
2. We need to become aware of the issues that affect our lives.
3. We need to know our human rights as this provides us with a legitimate reason to participate.
4. Allowing ourselves to formulate ideas and speak up freely using various media.
5. Meeting other young people to share ideas and opinions as well as learn new insights and skills.
6. Being consulted and taking into consideration our points of view.
7. Taking an active role in different arena.
8. Collectively deciding for ourselves.
To further understand participation, there are two conceptual frameworks: Barbara
Franklin’s Levels of Participation and the Dramaturgical Approach.
Barbara Franklin proposes eleven levels of participation where decision-making is a central element. She categorized these levels into three: non-participation, pre-participation and participation.
On the other hand, the dramaturgical approach explains the varying degrees of participation. This is a summarized version of Franklin’s 11 levels.
Barbara Franklin’s Levels of Participation
Non-participation
Level 0: No consideration. Youth issues are ignored and there is no help for the youth.
Level 1: Adults Rule. Adults make all decisions and young people are told nothing except what to do.
Pre-participation
Level 2: Adults rule kindly. Adults decide everything and young people are told what to do but were given explanation.
Level 3: Manipulation. Adults decide and ask young people if they agree. But in the end, young people must agree.
Level 4: Decoration. Adults only ask young people to sing, dance and perform ceremonial functions.
Level 5: Tokenism. Young people are allowed to decide but only on minor aspects.
Participation
Level 6: Invitation. Young people are invited to give ideas but still adults decide.
Level 7: Consultation. Adults consult young people and take into consideration their ideas. Still adults decide.
Level 8: Joint Decision. Both adults and youth decide on the basis of equality.
Level 9: Taking the lead role, adults help. Young people lead in deciding with the help of adults.
Level 10: Fully in-charge. Young people decide what to do and adults only enter the picture if asked help.
Dramaturgical Approach
1. Lead Role – full responsibility given
2. Supporting Role – young people providing support for adult initiatives
3. Audience Role – being on the receiving end
4. Undefined Role – taking on tasks delegated by adults
How Can Young People Participate?
Based on my experiences in NGO youth advocacy and after hearing stories from fellow youth and children advocates, we can participate in the following capacities:
1. Administrators. Young people can participate in daily office operations doing clerical work.
2. Advocates. Participation can be through joining rallies, campaigns and media work. They can participate in conferences, make public presentations and come up with policy proposals. Young people can also join activist organizations.
3. Counselors. Young people can listen to others and provide support on various issues such as those that are health related, e.g. HIV/AIDS.
4. Decision Makers. Young people can become board members of youth-serving NGO’s and institutions.
5. Educators. We can conduct skills development trainings for fellow youth.
6. Income Generators. Young people can write funding proposals and market them to funding agencies.
7. Managers. Young people can plan, monitor and evaluate the implementation of youth-related programs.
8. Researchers. Through participatory action researches, young people can identify research problems, design methodology, gather data, validate the data, analyze and come up with conclusions.
To further encourage youth participation, there is a parallel process that needs to be
addressed. One is developing our capacity to participate and generating the support from adults.
Developing young people’s capacities can be channeled through both formal and non-formal education. Psychosocial programs would also help for victims of human rights violations who have experiences trauma, e.g. victims of sexual exploitation and child soldiers. Another important factor is the provision of resources.
Adults can support by starting to become open-minded towards youth participation and establishing trust with young people. They could provide an environment or space that is not intimidating to young people. An example of this is adults using plain and simple language in the conduct of workshops/ conferences/ meetings/ consultations where young people are present. Furthermore, adults can perform facilitative roles by helping young people to realize their potentials and externalize these into action. In relation to this, they can refrain from imposing young people on what to do.
Hindrances to Participation
1. Adult mindset. Adults think that young people are inexperienced and lack knowledge and skills. They lack trust on young people. Filipinos have a culture of silence thereby making difficult for young people to question or even discuss important matters with adults. Even young people can be insecure of their own capabilities.
2. Crisis Situations of Young People. Young people can be caught in difficult situations such as sexual exploitation and armed conflict.
3. Inequality. Not all youth belong to an equal slate. Gender, class, sexual orientation and even disability might prevent young people to join activities and participate and decide on programs.
4. Lack of Resources. Though we have so many bright ideas, lack of resources, especially funding can inhibit us to implement youth related programs.
5. Lack of Time and other interests. We study, work or even both. These might be sacrificed if there is no balance between our identified priorities and our social involvement. Powerful actors/ institutions such as MTV can drive away youth’s interests towards social involvement.
Some Challenges and Recommendations for Action Planning
1. Self-check. “As youth advocates, do we trust our own capacity to make a difference and to take full responsibility to promote the rights of others?” “Do we believe in the capacity of those younger than us?”
2. Integrate youth participation into other human rights issues for these provide us the reason to organize and get involved. Human rights are interrelated and interdependent. We cannot further our advocacies with an empty stomach.
3. Look into role of young people in the private/ domestic sphere. How do young people decide on family-related matters?
4. Find ways to reach out to millions of unorganized youth. Only one percent of the Filipino youth belong to organizations.
5. Find ways to integrate those who are in the younger age group in our programs.
6. Find ways to reach out to those who hardly have access to opportunities: young women, LGBT youth, out of school youth, young people with disabilities, etc.
7. Consider the immediate environment to which young people exist and the actors that can affect their participation: family, schools, religious institutions, peers, barangays, etc.
8. Call for government support and maximize the existence of the Sangguniang Kabataan. Perform an advisory and cheerleading role for the very young SK officials.
9. Document experiences of youth participation. Let us share our knowledge to empower other young people.
“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”
Mahatma Gandhi
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