Youth changemakers co-create socially just futures

Youth changemakers co-create socially just futures 

Africa stands out as by far the youngest continent, with two-thirds of the population under the age of 30 — double the youth segment in many aging wealthy countries. Although this youthful age structure represents a significant demographic advantage, many African countries face a challenge in harnessing this vast human potential. At least one-third of African youth is unemployed and feeling discouraged about uncertain futures.

A recent IDRC-supported initiative has engaged youth in six countries in envisioning transformative futures for young Africans. The project participants in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia spoke of futures where youth are considered assets, not liabilities. They also wanted youth included in shaping policies that will dramatically impact their futures, in areas such as education, the economy, health, climate change and social justice.

“For too long, youth voices have gone unheard in the halls of power,” said Kenyan youth researcher Filbert Mbugua Ibau. Rectifying this injustice “starts with believing in young people, for we inherit the future that’s being made today. The future remains unwritten, and we are seizing the pen.” 

Honing policy skills

The 15-month Youth and Social Justice Futures initiative spearheaded by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and the Southern African Node of the Millennium Project (SAMPNODE) showcased the capacity of young people to re-imagine youth futures and co-create future-informed policies. It positioned youth as sophisticated changemakers and essential partners in building more equitable and sustainable futures.

Recruited by implementing partners Twaweza and MIET Africa, more than 100 young people developed their futures-thinking skills in 36 youth-futures and policy labs, held virtually across the six countries from February to June 2023. After being introduced to foresight visioning tools, their imaginations were set loose.

In a next step, researchers and youth participants worked together on the skills needed to engage with policymakers. These capacity-building workshops prepared participants to take leading roles in country-specific policy dialogues with government officials. A culminating regional session in September 2023 brought youth together with leaders from government, civil society and the private sector.  

Recentring on humanistic values

So what sort of futures surfaced in these workshops? Common themes emerging across the region included the need for urgent climate action. Shifting to renewable energy and circular economies that minimize resource waste was seen as key to achieving sustainability goals and creating opportunities for youth.

Other ideas ranged from exploring digital currencies and universal basic income to supporting young people’s mental health and entrepreneurial spirit. Participants stressed the importance of building societies on the humanistic values of the Ubuntu philosophy, rooted in several African cultures, and co-operating on shared regional challenges through continent-wide networks and digital platforms.

Youth researchers also produced six policy briefs with recommendations for each country and built an online platform to share knowledge and facilitate ongoing advocacy.

“We really hope to see some of the policy suggestions and systemic innovations the youth proposed to be taken up locally, nationally and regionally,” said project co-lead Deon Cloete, who oversees SAIIA’s futures program.

‘A corrupt-free future’

Youth researchers highlighted aspects of their preferred futures in a webinar. Joshua Sapetulu said that Zambian youth want employment opportunities and a living wage, with school curricula updated to keep pace with emerging technologies. He urged a streamlined and transparent digital tax process, while Jeremiah Babi from Uganda hoped for “a corrupt-free future, where our leaders allocate resources where they are meant to be.”

Also speaking from Uganda, Faridah Nakanwagi said that youth need access to quality health care and technology-driven transformation of agriculture, the backbone of many African economies. They also want supports in place to become job creators rather than job seekers. Akiror Hope Opio called for affordable education, youth hubs offering skills training and loans for youth to start businesses. “Above all, I would like to have a Uganda where girls are girls and not brides,” she said.

Acknowledging youth as equals

All of these insights underscored the value of this research as a youth-led initiative. Yet, surprisingly, young people are often excluded from policy processes due to assumptions that they lack foresight capabilities and deep content knowledge, without recognizing that these same limitations can also apply to older counterparts. Acknowledging youth agency as equal to that of older individuals is crucial for valuing young people’s contributions to knowledge generation and policy processes.

To ensure decision-makers heard their ideas, youth participants had direct interaction with government officials and other stakeholder groups throughout the project, according to Litha Mzinyati, a youth scholar with the futures program at SAIIA.

“The aim was to encourage creativity in re-imagining a brighter tomorrow for youth in East and Southern Africa, embracing the unique cultural and regional aspects that shape these futures,” he said.

Given the youth demographic dividend in Africa, excluding young people from policy processes leaves decision-makers disconnected from youth perspectives. This inevitably limits the equity and effectiveness of policies aimed at creating flourishing futures for all.

Why? Because “young people are missing not only from policy spaces but also most foresight processes around the world,” said project co-lead Geci Karuri-Sebina, a professor at the Wits School of Governance in Johannesburg, South Africa. Foresight activities typically engage senior people in an organization, who tend to be older. In this project, she ascribed participants’ skillful use of foresight methods to their adaptive learning abilities and “the openness of youth and willingness to imagine.”  

“We heard things that could only have come out of a youth community that was inspired. The idea that anything was possible was accepted so easily,” said Karuri-Sebina, who was also a lead researcher in an IDRC-funded project on decolonizing and democratizing the futures space. “For me, that’s the most important thing about a decolonial process — to really open people up to infinite possibilities.” 

Promising youth-driven initiatives

A second phase of the research takes forward ideas from participants’ preferred futures, such as moving education systems beyond preparing students for today’s formal economy. SAIIA is working with promising youth-driven initiatives in East and Southern Africa — including community-led climate-resilience and digital-literacy programs — to amplify their impacts.

Governance that includes youth voices and is accountable to future generations is far from an African issue alone. The draft Declaration on Future Generations proposed for adoption at the UN Summit of the Future in September 2024 recognizes the importance of including young people and children in policy processes globally, “to safeguard the needs and interests of future generations.”

While the adage that youth are the future stands true, this research clearly demonstrates that they are also the present.

Contributors: Paul Okiira Okwi, senior program specialist, IDRC; Deon Cloete, head of the Futures Programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA); Litha Mzinyati, research assistant, SAIIA; Geci Karuri-Sebina, associate professor, Wits School of Governance.  

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