Young people in Malawi have highlighted that a good example of meaningful and inclusive youth participation is recognising the contributions of young people, providing them leadership roles, and giving them equal access to opportunities so they can become the best versions of themselves. These youth advocates who are part of the PowerToYouth program see MIYP as a platform that provides a conducive environment and empowers young people to claim their civic space and engage in promoting sexual reproductive health and rights, fighting gender-based violence and harmful cultural practices as well as implementing other intersectional approaches in promoting gender equality.
During an exchange with these youth advocates, in Malawi in November 2024, they shared their leadership journey and perspectives of MIYP based on local realities. This exchange comes six months after the capacity strengthening on MIYP and transformative youth leadership training conducted in April 2024. The goal was to co-create a workshop that builds existing knowledge to ensure a shared comprehensive understanding of MIYP, strengthen the youth leadership skills of coalition members and the youth-adult partnerships within the Power To Youth Program, to support the participants in advancing in their work. The training aimed to address the following gaps:
- Implementing MIYP into daily work, through MIYP Training of Trainers
- Comprehensive understanding of tokenism
- Addressing power imbalances between adults and youth partners, and within youth groups
- Transformative youth leadership through a Youth Leadership ToT
- Strengthening inclusivity in MIYP
- Creating or demanding space for young peoples in governance structures
- Understanding the policy and legal frameworks to demand MIYP
What Does Meaningful and Inclusive Youth Participation (MIYP) Mean to You?
Weston Mfunya is a Programme Officer for Youth Wave Malawi, his role within PTY is to ensure that transformative leadership principles are integrated at every level of program implementation. He collaborates with youth leaders and consortium partners to ensure that young people are empowered to actively engage in decision-making processes, advocate for their rights, and hold duty bearers accountable. This is done by equipping youth with the skills, knowledge, and confidence needed to address key issues such as unintended pregnancies, sexual and gender-based violence, and harmful cultural practices. Weston also focuses on fostering partnerships and collaborations that promote youth-adult partnerships, amplifying the impact of the Power To Youth program and driving systemic change to create a more inclusive environment for Meaningful Inclusive Youth Participation.
Weston emphasises that transformative youth leadership plays a critical role in MIYP as it empowers young people to not only be present in decision-making structures but also to actively shape and influence decisions that align with their needs and communities. Transformative leadership focuses on equipping youths with the skills, knowledge. This provides them with confidence to meaningfully engage in decision-making processes and represent the voices of young people from diverse backgrounds, including marginalised and underrepresented groups such as young people with disabilities.
“Transformative leadership encourages young people to question and challenge existing systems, which is key in youth-led advocacy as it helps to challenge systems that perpetuate inequality or exclude young people from decision-making. Transformative youth leadership promotes a long-term vision for Meaningful Inclusive Youth Participation by creating systemic change that addresses the root causes hindering MIYP. Through transformative leadership, young people learn the importance of partnerships and collaboration that promote youth-adult partnerships, amplifying the impact of youth participation” Weston concludes.
Wezzie Wangisa is a gender and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights advocate. She believes that providing youths with chances to develop their skills and pursue their interest is a sure way to creating opportunities for young people. This includes giving them the space to develop their skills. Her daily role involves: Advocacy and awareness-raising: educating the public about gender equality issues and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights through campaigns, workshops, and events. “Meaningful and inclusive youth participation is the creation of opportunities for young leaders…this goes beyond tokenism, ensuring that young people are not just symbolic figures, but valued contributors whose voices are heard and respected,” Wangisa. This involves empowering fellow young people to advocate for their rights and access to opportunities and resources. Wangisa hopes that rural communities will eventually embrace MIYP and support their youthful population to substantively engage in promoting social justice and development.
Godfrey Malongo is an experienced development professional who works in accelerating change in health programming and policy advocacy using collaborative partnerships and community centred approaches. He is skilled in project implementation, stakeholder management, strategy development and policy analysis with a history of leading development projects, initiatives and programmes. Malongo is passionate about inclusion of young people at all levels and believes that youth can attain their potential when given the right opportunity. He points that tokenism is one of the ways young people are indirectly excluded and manipulated. “Tokenism can be eradicated by giving youth power to make decisions. For example, creating leadership quotas in community structures for youth. It can also be eradicated by promoting youth adult partnerships, where young leaders learn from the older ones as this also creates space for young leaders to be taken seriously” Malongo emphasised.
Chimwemwe Kayange is a passionate Human Rights and Development Activist who is committed to advocating for the rights of the most vulnerable groups, including women, youth, and minorities. Her career responsibilities revolve around promoting gender inclusion, advancing social justice, and advocating for digital rights. She is also an active youth researcher and a full member of the Coalition of Women Human Rights Defenders in Malawi where she horns her advocacy skills in championing women’s rights. Chimwemwe uses innovative strategies such as the Gender Transformative Approach Human-Centred Design, and the concept of shifting power to ensure the sustainability and impact of projects. Her goal is to empower young people and marginalised communities, and contribute to a world where everyone, regardless of background, can live with dignity, respect, and equality. In the Power To Youth Team, Kayange supports in fighting harmful practices and promoting youth safe spaces. “Youth should be given the -platform to participate actively in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of all activities they are involved in at decision-making levels,” said Kayange.
Standford Chidule is part of the MenEngage Malawi Youth network where he supports the inclusion of youth in decision-making within the network and ensures that youth voices and interests are mainstreamed in every aspect of programming. During community interventions, he works alongside other youths in engaging men and boys for gender equality. He also supports the implementation of MIYP by linking and collaborating with the Power To Youth program where innovative ideas can be generated to amplify the efforts of youth people in the civic space. He believes that’s youths should be given opportunities to work on equal terms. “Meaningful and inclusive youth participation means that youth people are engaged in all processes of decision-making in organisations, and they can also participate on equal terms as adults,” Chidule.
Meaningful and inclusive youth participation is not only critical for the development of Malawi, but all African countries who have young people as majority of their population. The African Union considers the empowerment of youth as a commitment to the future. Through the Africa Youth Charter, the AU emphasises the right of every young person to participate in all spheres of life, acknowledges that youths are accelerators of development and should be empowered by communities and governments to substantively participate in all developmental processes. Intergenerational collaboration through youth-adult partnerships is also important for passing-on of skills to young people and ensuring sustainable development.
Watch this video to hear directly from young people https://youtu.be/gRq_aOSLJDI?si=lJOkSAuejqSYhQ2b
By Eucharia Nkengafack
