In crisis: Youth Participation & Global Governance

/participation hosts a new conversation on the participation of young people at international summits and on the breakdown in global governance as the vehicle for achieving change. Whether it is the inertia of international institutions, outdated civil society organisations, disillusioned youth or weak political will, the failure to agree solutions to problems echoes through conference centres around the world.   

Global governance breakdown
Global governance, with its outmoded systems and archaic processes for multilateral decision making, is now woefully unable to take decisions on global issues, civil conflicts, economic endurance or sustainable development.

“A crisis that’s severe enough will help to overcome social and political inertia.

– The key question is then: is the global governance crisis severe enough for civil society to successfully redefine it?”

The inability to act only weakens people’s trust and belief in global institutions. Formalised, bureaucratic institutions are disconnected from people’s lives and it is through the mass mobilisation of citizens around the world that we now see radical change achieved and celebrated.

Youth participation
Though youth participation in international decision making is, from the start, flawed by the system, it cannot excuse our on-going ineffectiveness and failure to bring about the policy change we lobby for and ‘demand’ from our leaders.

“We need to stop our amateurish approach to young people’s voice and influence in global decision-making and get real about why we’re there, what we want to achieve and how we’re going to get it.”

A resource for better governance
/participation will act as a resource and knowledge hub for national and international youth participation and will:

• Archive outcome documents;
• Create a hub of participation resources;
• Map the international opportunities through spaces & places, structures and issues;
• Map the national participation of young people in countries throughout the world.

Young people can, and should, play an important role at internationally. But the ‘global governance breakdown’ is offering little hope that our current international institutions are capable of delivering the policy and political change required. If we’re to change the system, we must change our approach. Flying around the world to the next ‘youth summit’ is pointless unless we’re clear what we want and how we will get it.

Source: youthpolicy.org
Origianally posted by: BYC

About BYC Team

The British Youth Council (BYC) is the national youth council of the United Kingdom and is led by young people for young people aged 25 and under. Participation is one of the core values of the British Youth Council and we strive for all young people to have the right to participate in the decisions which affect their lives and issues that are important to them locally, nationally and internationally.