Youth Participation in African Social Policy and Governance

Abstract

Abstract Generally acknowledged as a youthful continent, Africa’s future will be shaped by its present ability to harness the capabilities, energy, contributions, and values of young people to achieve its developmental objectives. Yet youth remain on the margins with respect to shaping the substance of policy and participating in political power. Such exclusion of youth perspectives is evident in social policies. Existing social policies do not adequately reflect the developmental aspects of youth throughout the life cycle and undermine the potentially positive effects of youth participation in governance. This constrains the potential role of youth as political leaders, especially in influencing social policies that shape their own development. Dooms and Pillay argue that governments and political actors at the continental, regional, and national levels of governance in Africa ought to redefine how they understand youth and how they mainstream issues affecting youth in policy. Applying a more developmental standard to how youth is defined and operationalized in policy and placing youth as active participants in social policymaking allows for a more nuanced and youth-specific approach to current and future policy choices and program designs. The chapter challenges policy makers to find ways to redress low levels of youth participation in governance. Examples of youth participation models that are developmental and youth-led are discussed, including models that institutionalize new forms of youth participation in African social administration.