Barriers and solutions: How to unleash the power of youth to tackle wild problems
What are the barriers to young people's participation in power and how do we break down those barriers? We gathered four actors who have all worked to activate young voices in democracy to debate this on 'The Stage' at the festival '29 days at Thoravej 29'. Read their advice for those who want to bring young voices into the formal spaces where decisions are made and the future is shaped.
The future has become a dumping ground for today's problems. To tackle the problems looming ahead, we need future generations to enter the halls of power and boardrooms where they can help take control.
And that's important. Not only because young people have to live with the consequences of the decisions we make today - they also hold some of the solutions.
"In a time where democracy is challenged, where polarization is increasing, and where people quickly take contradictions and debate personally, it is insanely important that we try to create spaces where psychological and physical safety comes first," says Naima Yasin, Youth Bureau SAGA's Head of Secretariat, introducing the conversation, which she moderates.
But how do we break down the barriers that keep young people out of the power space of our society? And how can we rethink young people's political influence and harness their power to tackle wild problems?
The four experienced change agents talked about this in the wake of the Danish Parliament's Wild Week, which is a proposal for a new democratic youth format with three goals:
i) Bringing young people into the political machine room and ensuring influence
ii) Testing new approaches to tackling wild problems and creating change
iii) Eliminate the cross-generational divide to strengthen real focus on the future
In addition to INVI's Head of Agenda, Tine Maria Borresø, former head of P3, and Naima Yasin, Head of Secretariat at the youth organization SAGA, who were key players in the creation of the Danish Parliament's Wild Week, Olivia Grant, Deputy Director of Ungdomsbureauet, and Andreas Pinstrup Jørgensen, Deputy Director of the think tank Demokratisk Erhverv were also on stage.
In this article, you'll discover a number of challenges and solutions to help young people gain easier access to formal spaces.
"If you're not at the table, you're on the table"
Young people don't know care - and that gives them a unique ability to create change.
Therefore, generational turnover is also one of the biggest factors for change, Andreas Pinstrup Jørgensen points out. But, he adds, older generations are more powerful than ever before because they are much larger than the younger generation.
"It means that the natural factor, where young people used to just get influence because the others die, it's not quite there in the same way anymore."
And it's not because young people don't have a voice. Here in Denmark, young people are actually very well represented, says Andreas Pinstrup Jørgensen. But young people are not represented in the formal spaces.
"A very gray-haired gentleman once said to me: If you're not at the table, you're on the table," says Andreas Pinstrup Jørgensen and adds that the big challenge is that young people are engaging more informally. He cites the Woke movement as an example of a movement that took off very quickly, but which also quickly ran out of steam.
"The big challenge is to stick around and get into the rooms and sit at the table," he says - that's where you can create lasting change.
Lost in translation
It's easier to get a seat at the table if you're extroverted and optimistic than if you're introverted and pessimistic, says Olivia Grant, Deputy Director of the Youth Bureau.
Tine Maria Borresø tells the story of a young person who participated in the Danish Parliament's Wild Week and who came up to her after the Youth Hearing, the culminating event, and put into words the challenges of the generation meeting:
"He said that it was okay that some of the politicians didn't listen, because it's just a generation that has only lived in the boom times and been on the whole journey where everything has gone well, so of course they also think that AI is going well," says Tine Maria Borresø and quotes the young man further:
"But I was just born in a time where everything sucks. I have to work a lot, I have to carry everything, the world is burning, I have anxiety in all kinds of different ways. Of course we can't talk to each other."
There are many possible misunderstandings, and if we are to avoid them and have a constructive dialog, we must also educate young people to be able to speak into the halls of power," Tine Maria Borresø points out:
"It was very easy to get into Christiansborg with Parliament's Wild Week, but the challenge comes when politicians need to understand what young people are saying. Our learning from the hearing is that you have to work on translating young people's voices to reach the halls of power."
If only young people knew how much everyone fumbles
Andreas Pinstrup Jørgensen has been a young change maker himself, although he characterizes himself as "extremely introverted and is not the classic player when it comes to making change".
But he has learned to stand in the spotlight because he has realized one thing: those who speak into the microphone are rarely smarter than everyone else:
"I didn't have any self-confidence at all until I was in my late twenties, because I thought: 'I can't contribute anything'. But when I meet people in our network who are 19-20 years old, I think: 'Damn, if they only knew how much stupidity there is, how much front there is. I've just written everything down, I'm just saying what it says here'," says Andreas Pinstrup Jørgensen, pointing to his phone on his thigh and continues:
"People are incredibly average in intelligence. The normal curve is incredibly narrow, there are very few who are much more intelligent than others. It's about dedicating yourself to a cause for a long time, and then everyone can do that."
Make your abs roomy
Dedicate a couple of years, says Andreas Pinstrup Jørgensen. Create a practice field, adds Olivia Grant.
According to Olivia Grant, many young people are excluded from spaces of power because access requires experience - something young people by definition have not had the opportunity to gain.
"Understanding comes through participation. But instead of creating space for experience to emerge in participation, we turn the absence of experience into a barrier," she says, pointing to the crucial need to rethink these spaces so that they do not seem dangerous and exclusionary.
Naima Yasin offers concrete advice on how to make spaces less dangerous:
"If you have young people on your board, send a video in advance with what the room looks like. Tell how to use the chair, how to get the floor, how to use an agenda," she says.
The power spaces close in on themselves
But if someone has to get in, someone has to get out. This gives resistance to the young people who want to enter the formal spaces.
"You don't get power unless you take it. And it's a big task for those of us who believe that young voices are important to help young people."
Andreas Pinstrup Jørgensen explains that he has just been in a meeting with "50+ gray-haired people" from Denmark's largest member democracies. Even though they focus on democracy and also want to talk about young people, they have boards where the average age is between 60-65 years old and consists of white men.
"They have no interest in being replaced - that's how it is, and that's how it is in all democracy," says Andreas Pinstrup Jørgensen and points out that you therefore also have to think of it as a battle of interests, where young people organize themselves to get in.
"We need young people to stand up and say: 'Hey, we're members, but we have no idea how to join. We can't find the information, there's no one to tap us on the shoulder'," says Andreas Pinstrup Jørgensen and emphasizes the tap on the shoulder as one of the big weapons to engage young people in boards if you actually want to give young people a seat, because it gives confidence and motivation to run.
Give a real mandate
But if you as a young person are tapped on the shoulder, be critical, because you may end up in a situation where you are involved symbolically.
"One of the things we can do here is to be kill joy," says Andreas Pinstrup Jørgensen and points out that some young advisory boards can be examples of symbolic efforts.
"If there is no influence on something concrete, then someone has to call it out," he says to the room and states that they have to kill the good atmosphere.
Olivia Grant points out that those in power should be asked to reflect on what young people should bring to the board:
"If it's an involvement where there is a fixed framework in which you can provide input, you have to be honest about it. You shouldn't say: 'Come here and influence your environment' if it's just a small lawn you can decide something about," she says and continues:
"We experience that young people can and will, so it's frustrating as hell when a young person who has been tapped on the shoulder gives their all and then ends up having much less decision-making power than they were promised."
Young people create the path to successful policy
To successfully implement policy and address the roots of our wild problems, young people must help shape it.
"I wish we talked less about democratic involvement and more about implementation - even though it's an unsexy word. If we want things to stick, we also need to involve the people who are about to go out and live in the reality we are building for them," says Tine Maria Borresø and continues:
"So it's actually kind of important if they want to own the decisions we make today."
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Are you young and want to get into formal spaces?
Say yes - and say no. Make sure you have real influence. Ask what you get to decide and make sure you have a clear framework from the start
Practice! You don't have to know it all now. Dedicate yourself over time - it takes courage and patience.
Everyone fumbles too and doesn't know the answers any better than you do. It's not about being the smartest, it's about persisting and being prepared.
Find your community. Don't go it alone - get organized, find networks and movements that share your values.
Want to help pave the way for youth empowerment?
A tap on the shoulder. It means a lot and gives you the confidence and courage to take the leap.
Make the space safe. Share a video of the room you're meeting in, explain how meetings work and set clear expectations.
Give space - and give power. Ensure that young people have real decision-making power.
Listen! Young people's concerns are not hysteria. They may see something you can no longer see.
Keep an eye out for those who don't shout the loudest. It's not just extroverts who should have a seat at the table - recognize the value of quiet engagement and reflection.