The civic pushback young people face and how to change it as leaders


Dear reader in this piece I will not bore you with lengthy explanations about the challenges that youth in civic leadership  face and how to solve them. Rather I will go straight to the point and leave room for you to engage. 


This conversation starts from how youth in the civic spaces are facing challenges in making impact  mainly as a result of systemic and cultural factors within the civic space  ( which I described as the democracy and development vocation in the body) 


Young people in the democracy and development vocation suffer three things and require two things 



The challenges: 


1 . Boardroom demobilization - they are allowed limited access to decision making spaces 


2. Kiddies table suppression - those that get access are often overlooked by ageists gate keepers 


3. Involuntary gallery retirement -  The majority of those who are in the spaces get to watch and wait for their time to come because the space has a slow moving generational renewal system. 


The solutions : 


The democracy and development space should adopt a system that is tolerant to structural fluidity. For example accept that not all youth led organizations can be organized in the way traditional civil society is. 


In spaces where we have accommodated them and they showed up , let’s include their contributions and desist from minimizing their voices because their little experiences matter and are most probably the reason why they are here today.



In Conclusion , the solution to these  problems is a complete and total cultural shift that initiates processes of inclusion and empowerment of youth in civic spaces to effectively contribute 

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