Don’t cherry-pick a youth “alibi”!

Youth participation is key to secure inclusive political processes. But the covid pandemic showed that politicians and decision-makers in the Nordic region must get better at listening to and involving children and young people and implementing meaningful participation.

The Norwegian Children and Youth Council (LNU), works to ensure that children and young people involved and listened to – locally, nationally, and internationally. This does not just mean including various youth organisations on boards, councils, and committees, but also that children and young people should have a real opportunity to be heard on all issues that concern them.

Principles on real and meaningful participation  

LNU have developed five principles on real and meaningful participation that they see relevant and should serve as guidelines for all decision makers in the Nordic countries:

1. Independence.
   Youth must be able to choose what they want to engage in. They have the right to be heard in all decision-making processes that concern them, and in all processes that they themselves deem they have a stake in. If youths are interested, they should be heard.
2. Representation.
   Youth must choose their own representatives. These representatives are responsible to the youth they represent, as in the democratic child and youth organisations. Political processes can’t cherry-pick a youth “alibi” or someone the adults believe represents youths. This is not democratical.
3. Unique competences.
   Youth need to be recognised as a professional resource with the necessary expertise that is unique to them and that others cannot replace. They are the only ones who can represent themselves and their views, adults cannot.
4. Access to information.
   In all institutions and processes where youth participate, they need access to all relevant information to be prepared for the issues that involve them. They need the same level of access to information as other stakeholders and participants in the decision-making processes.
5. Continuity in processes.
   Youth need to be able to participate in all chains in the political processes. Single events and processes that are not democratical does not count as full participation. That means that youth should neither be invited only to give some initial input before the actual process starts, not be there for the actual political work and debates, nor  be involved onlywhen the process is finished to put a stamp of approval on it.

– LNU’s principles are an important source of knowledge for politicians and decision-makers in the Nordic region. We believe they need increased competence, vigour and confidence when it comes to listening to and involving children and young people in a meaningful way, says, Merethe Løberg, Senior adviser at Nordic Welfare Centre.

Child and youth participation during crisis

Nordic Welfare Centre has an ongoing project about this, Nordic Cooperation on Children and Young People’s Opportunities for Participation and Development During the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The project has so far shown that decision makers in the Nordic region were not prepared to protect children’s rights and they did not consult or involve them in decision-making, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. A consistent finding by researchers is that the Nordic countries rarely consulted or involved children in connection with the implementation of pandemic measures. This affected children and young people negatively in the Nordic region. You can read more about this in the report Restricted Childhood, Interrupted Youth.

To prepare better for the future decision makers need good structures and practices for consultation and involvement, to be able to better address the needs of vulnerable children and young people.

A roadmap for genuine participation

In our publication Child and youth participation during crisis: Recommendations for decision makers in the Nordic region, we have gathered 34 recommendations and 9 promising examples for decision makers in the Nordic region on how to build resilient structures for the future. LNU’s principles also offer valuable insights for enhancing the participation of youth in decision-making during such critical times.

LNU’s principles provide a roadmap for promoting genuine youth participation. By embracing independence, representation, unique competences, access to information, and continuity in processes, decision-makers can create an environment that not only listens to the voices of the future but actively includes them in shaping it.