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Young people and their participation in democratic process

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Hi. Im Ljupka Janevska. I am a web content writer for Poraka Nova.

Here, below, you can read my latest blog article about "Young people and democracy"

Young people and democracy-how they can be more participative and inlcuded in the decision-making  process via digital tools

Over the last decades, the involvement and participation of young individuals in the decision making process (social, political and civic), became really important. As a matter of fact, many European institutions and organizations constantly emphasize the significance of youth participation as a ‘space’ where young people can freely express their views, or opinions and decision-makers can listen to their views, or opinions and hopefully take them in consideration. Today, on average, one in two young Europeans uses the internet to interact with public authorities. Of course, due to the level of education, especially in the area of digital competences, many young people use different digital tools for engaging in the decision making process.

Different digital tools for youth participation

Visual Argument

The ‘Visual Argument’ tool is used to collect and map the different arguments of a debate. It can help young people in collecting useful insights about the connection of different opinions, especially their similarity and distinction. While the insights can be useful, however they typically require participants to complete surveys, and that can be disengaging in the process of following the debate. However, the best-known example for the use of argument visualization is the online platform vTaiwan, where stakeholders can discuss how to formulate or revise regulations, through mutual exchange of opinions.

Co-drafting

Co-Drafting is a ‘collaborative’ tool that is most commonly used for team groups to write and edit texts together. They are typically best used with an established group where there is a common purpose and established norms for working in different circumstances. This is a great opportunity for young people, who want to be involved in the decision making process to join this platform and give their opinions and thoughts on a certain topic. One of the most interesting examples of this currently is the Coronavirus Tech Handbook, where everyone can inform or contribute by sharing their personal insights for better protection of Covid-19.

Crowd mapping

Based on the name of this digital tool, young people can make suggestions about dealing with current issues, by sharing their location on a map. They can use this for a variety of purposes, like reporting potholes, disaster relief or giving insights on improving the local community. The ‘Crowd mapping’ tool can provide an effective way of collecting insights from the local community about a certain place, object or an overall community problem. CrisisCommons is a great example of a crowd mapping tool. It is an online global community of different volunteers, government agencies, and citizens who are effectively improving the resiliency and response before the unfortunate disaster occurs.

Ideas Generation

This tool is an excellent opportunity to enable young participants to submit ideas in response to a certain local issue or topic. There is also the possibility for commenting and voting for an idea, where the highest voted ideas rise to the top of the list and therefore receive more votes. Given this opportunity, young people can freely choose the idea or suggestion that they think is the most effective solution to the given problem. One of the best examples of using an ideas generation platform was DecideMadrid, which enabled residents to propose ideas for new legislation.

Conclusion

The participation of youth in the decision making process is important, because youth are the most valuable asset in every society. Participation promotes the well-being and development of young people. The more opportunities a young person has for meaningful participation, including questioning, expressing their views and opinions, the more experienced or competent he or she becomes. Also, by using different tools for political participation, young people can enhance their skills, competencies, and become more confident to establish professional relationships.

 

References :

● Tim Hughes, (2020),’’Digital tools for participation: where to start?’’https://involve.org.uk/resources/blog/opinion/digital-tools-participation-where-start

● World Youth Report, (2003), ‘’Youth Participation in Decision-making’’, https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/ch10.pdf

● Antonio Jovanovski, (2020), ‘’Youth participation in decision-making process’’ https://www.trainerslibrary.org/youth-participation-in-decision-making-process/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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