Kenya should embrace meaningful youth participation

“I know I can, be what I wanna be, if I work hard in it, I will where I wanna be” all of us are familiar with this song by Nas. But can young people in Kenya be anything they want to be without being meaningfully involved in matters that affect them? Can they be where they want to be without taking charge of their destiny? In Kenya, meaningful youth participation is very low and is mainly influenced by many factors, including cultural values, resource issues, adult perceptions about the value of young people’s opinions, skills within the organization, and the readiness of young people themselves to engage.

Research has shown that by meaningfully engaging young people in matters that affect their lives in any way, we are more likely to see positive outcomes.

Involving young people meaningfully in decision-making brings direct benefits to young people themselves. They gain by learning skills such as teamwork, negotiating, problem solving and influencing. They obtain knowledge of how a policy is made and how organizations work. They learn to engage with adults as partners and their confidence and self-esteem may be enhanced through participation.

Having opportunities to participate in decision making processes can also bring particular benefits to young people who are marginalized or excluded from the social, cultural, economic and political life of their communities. These young people, through participation activities, can lobby to gain further support from services that are responsible for their care, but who may not be reaching these groups of young people.

Better policies and services are also the end result of meaningful youth participation. Young people have unique perspectives and experiences to offer on issues that affect their lives. Giving young people a say in how policies and services are developed, provided, evaluated, monitored and improved will ensure that those policies and services really meet their needs and that unmet needs are recognized.

Moreover through participation young people learn that they can make a difference when they influence what happens in their own communities and in society. This promotes stronger democracy and healthier communities. When young people are involved in public policy-making, they move from being passive recipients of adult decisions to ‘rights holders’ who are able to assist in shaping their lives and their society.

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child states that children and young people have the human right to have opinions and for those opinions to matter. Its further states that the opinions of children and young people should be considered when people make decisions about things that involve them and they shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand on the grounds of age. Lastly it states that young people should be given information they need to make good decisions.

Meaningful youth participation cannot simply happen out of the blues. It requires champions at national, local and organizational level. In particular, strong leadership is needed within organizations to initiate and extend opportunities for real and active participation by young people.

We should also remember that young people need information, understanding, skills and confidence if they are to participate well. The development of the capacity for participation begins in the family. Families can help to empower young people in the course of everyday life, by offering them choices and helping them to understand the consequences of their decisions and actions, and by fostering a culture of respect for their opinions. Next to the family, the school curriculum and the culture of the school should provide the most significant means by which children and young people can learn the skills, capacities and responsibilities of active participation and citizenship.