Promoting Youth Participation in Public Policy
The constitution of the city of Buenos Aires guarantees its young citizens the right to participate in the decisions that affect them. Furthermore, it mandates the establishment of a Youth Council within the municipality to attend to the pressing needs of youth throughout the city. Yet for years since the constitution was signed in 1996, not only have youth remain marginalized from decision-making processes, but no institution exists to ensure the protection of their rights and opportunities.
Meanwhile, a group of youth-led NGOs, clubs and political parties came together to form La Mesa de Concertación Juvenil, a coalition unified by their commitment to issues of youth participation, activism, and leadership in Buenos Aires. La Mesa is comprised of 34 diverse organizations and groups that have coalesced to develop inclusive programs and policies that empower and give voice to all youth, regardless of age, gender, race or religion. For over four years, La Mesa worked to draft a bill for the creation of the Youth Council of Buenos Aires, as mandated by the city constitution. Coalition members met repeatedly with local policymakers to debate the role and responsibilities of this vital institution, but despite their efforts and commitment, La Mesa was unable to make significant progress on a bill.
In response to this situation and in order to revitalize the Youth Council legislation, Foundation for Democratic Change in Argentina (FCD – Fundación de Cambio Democrático) designed a program to build the leadership skills of La Mesa and facilitate an inclusive dialogue on youth public policies. First, staff conducted a preliminary evaluation to analyze the possibilities for establishing the Youth Council, and identified the relevant stakeholders to participate in a cooperative planning process. During this stage, it became clear that consensus needed to be built within La Mesa before externalizing its vision to a larger audience. As a result, FCD conducted trainings for La Mesa members on effective communication, interest-based negotiation, negotiation exercises, and facilitation skills. FCD then facilitated a cooperating planning process, in which La Mesa members devised a long-term strategy to attain common goals and objectives, as well as strengthen internal structure and decision-making.
Simultaneously, FCD worked with La Mesa to develop an advocacy and public relations campaign to mobilize internal and external support for the establishment of the Youth Council. La Mesa identified other stakeholders in the Youth Council issue and worked with them to identify possible allies for its establishment. These included non-La Mesa member NGOs with a youth concentration, NGOs focusing on social issues, youth involved in political parties, political parties, municipal officials, and the media. FCD's assistance resulted in community outreach such as NGO television programs, press releases through media outlets, participation in the “Global Day of Youth Volunteer Service,” and work with the provincial Ombudsman.
The outreach campaign produced added benefits through the wider dissemination of change management skills to youth organizations. For example, FCD and Alternativa Solidaria formed a working group to negotiate with political leaders to implement a transparent program that provides monetary assistance and training to 400 impoverished families in the Lomas de Zamora community, Buenos Aires Province. In addition, Partners-Argentina worked with Vientos del Sur to design a “public policy laboratory” in which youth can discuss various issues, including health, the environment, employment and human rights, and also collaborated to convene a national forum that assessed the opportunities to transform educational policies in Argentina.
The political, economic and social unrest in Argentina in late 2001 and 2002 has unfortunately disrupted FCD and La Mesa’s negotiations with provincial authorities on the issue of the Youth Council. Their strengthened platform, however, did enable La Mesa to influence a new draft of the Youth Council Act proposed by the Executive Power of Buenos Aires; the Act is now pending review by lawmakers.
FCD’s youth initiative equipped La Mesa members with the change and conflict management skills necessary to engage in a successful cooperative planning process, transforming La Mesa into a leading consensus-based youth coalition poised to promote change in youth policies in Argentina. FCD will build on the successes of this work with La Mesa to develop a community-wide cooperative planning process in a stabilized political environment with all the relevant political stakeholders.
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