Although youth represents a majority of the world’s population, many challenges still hinder the active participation of young people, both locally and globally. At the same time, the whole world has high expectations for youth: we have been told for too long that we were « tomorrow’s leaders », which had two effects: On one hand, young people tend to step down waiting for that « tomorrow ». On the other hand, the existing leaders used that opportunity to diminish youth’s voices and opinions. Yet, this young population can definitely serve as a “demographic bonus” if investment in youth development really empowers young people to take on this challenge, especially as we are operating in the context of globalization. The good news is that things are positively changing. Leaders of tomorrow are becoming leaders of today. Young activists from all around the world, such as Vanessa Nakate and Zulaikha Patel, have proved why we cannot afford to ignore them anymore: The youth’s voice is too powerful and is the key to social change.
In a society that values and is used to put the elderly at the top of the hierarchy like Madagascar does (« raimanandrenism »), youth participation is often questioned. But today’s Malagasy youth is definitely committed to challenge this ongoing clash between our culture and the globalization, in a way the country and the world would benefit from it : from online activism to working or volunteering in different organizations, youth has taken a step ahead to force the previous generations to consider their voice and opinion.
So, to be taken into account, we – young people – all need to consider ourselves as true potential game changers, if we are not already. To be seen, we need to operate more in public or help our peers so that we are all seen at the end. To be heard, we need to speak up and be strategic about it. Now more than ever, we have the tools and the platforms to be considered, seen and heard. We should not only express ourselves but positively influence each other to do so.
However, youth still needs to be supported along that journey. And within NGO Youth First, we believe that investing in youth means giving young women and men the ability and capacity to “learn”, “acquire”, to “practice” and to “speak up”, which are exactly the main pillars of our work in Madagascar : empowering young people to take actions, equipping them with skillsets, and making their voices heard through advocacy actions in order for them to be seen as key-changemakers.