News item | 01-06-2023 | 10:21
In many countries where the Netherlands is involved in development cooperation, the average age is between 15 and 25 years. By working together with young people and listening to their experiences, we better understand what is really going on in those countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is therefore working with a youth advisory committee. After a successful 20-month pilot, the project will now have a multi-year follow-up.
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In November 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the National Youth Council (NJR), a youth advisory committee. Over the past twenty months, ten international young people have worked on six long-term assignments and various short projects. Today they hand over the baton to the new members.
The new youth advisory committee consists of five experienced members from the original committee and five newly recruited members. These were chosen from more than two thousand applications. The members are all under the age of 30 and come from ten different countries: Burkina Faso, Iraq, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Jordan.
Successful pilot
Daisy Kandole from Uganda is one of the experienced members. She looks back on the pilot period, where she received an assignment on sex education. ‘It was nice to bring my fellow committee members together and to hear the thoughts of other young people. For example, about the role of men in sexual health and reproductive rights, the possibilities of digitization and the importance of sex education. We worked closely with the policy officers, which made me realize: when young people and adults work together as a team, a lot can be achieved!’
Sinan Abderrahim Assaid from Jordan also looks back positively on the past few months. He coordinated one of the assignments on education. The committee produced a report with recommendations for the democratization of scholarships. ‘Our knowledge and experience of the economy, cultures and religions in our own countries helps us to enrich the decision-making process within the ministry. In the discussions with the Ministry, we can reveal hidden risks from our own context and offer innovative solutions.’
Daisy Kandole and Sinan Abderrahim Assaid.
Learned lessons
A successful pilot has shown that the valuable insights and advice of the youth advisory committee contribute to a development policy that better meets the wishes and concerns of young people. The project will therefore have a multi-year follow-up. The National Youth Council has listed all the lessons learned from the pilot period in order to further improve the cooperation between the ministry and the youth advisory committee in the coming years. The result is an extensive step-by-step plan for policy officers with tips and insights for effective collaboration.
A new batch
In the months leading up to the summer, the committee members will first get to know each other, the ministry and the policy topics. Together with the ministry, the committee chooses five to eight topics that the members will work on in the coming year. The youth advisory committee will start the first assignments at the end of June.
Sinan and Daisy already have one important tip for the new committee members. Daisy: ‘Stand up, take your chance and use it to make youth-led change in the world!’ Sinan adds: ‘Don’t be afraid to propose bold ideas. Diplomats should be politically correct, but not you! You’re a young person here to help make a global social impact, so make your voice heard!’