Monday,
11th October 2010
Youth
participation
Youth
participation in shaping the world of tomorrow, but even more
importantly the world of today, is at the very heart of youth work
and the reason why we have youth organisations and youth
representatives in the first place. Participation is a broad concept
and active participation of all citizens in a given society is a
vital part of a healthy democracy.
Youth
participation manifests itself in many ways: from participation of
young people in activities organised by, with and for young people,
their civil-society engagement covering a very diverse range of
issues and topics, to the participation of young people in
decision-making processes. Mainly, but not exclusively, this happens
via youth organisations as the framework enabling, facilitating and
promoting youth participation.
The
Sociologist Roger Hart has
identified eight degrees of participation illustrated by the
following ladder:
In
Europe we currently have different levels of youth involvement and
participation and we need to strive to achieve the maximum levels in
all spheres and at all levels. It is the role of the European Youth
Forum and its member organisations to strive for the maximum and
jointly climb to the highest rung of the ladder.
Thus,
our
continuous task
is to offer support to democratic, independent, youth-led
organisations and empower young people
by equipping them with skills necessary for their personal and
professional development.
In
my next blog entry I will focus on the political aspects of youth
participation in the democratic life of a given society, especially
issues linked to taking part in elections.
2 comments:
and inclusive work for youngers.
Dear Patricia,
you are absolutely right. Inclusiveness is an important aspect of youth participation: youth organisation need to be functioning and working in a way that they are creating the conditions to be open to include every young person willing to join their cause; but also be practicing what we are preaching in terms of doing inclusive work by, for and with young people.
Please feel free to share more ideas on this or related topics.
Post a Comment