Abstract:
Healthy democracies depend on young people participating in governance and policymaking processes, yet institutional hurdles frequently prevent young people from doing so. This paper uses a qualitative case study of the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) Civic Leadership track in West Africa to examine the effects of civic education and activities on strengthening democracy and amplifying youth voices. This paper examines the effectiveness of the YALI initiatives from the premise that when young people are equipped with relevant civic knowledge it can influence advocacy and decision-making purposes. It asks the question, - To what extent does Civic Engagement through the Young African Leadership Initiative Civic Leadership Management Track change the levels of its civic engagement, the civic skills of its participants, and their inspiration to actively take part in governance? To do this adequately, Ten (10) YALI alumni were interviewed in semi-structured interviews to determine how the program affected their civic engagement, skill set, and motivation to participate in governance processes. Findings show that young people have a deep mistrust of the political system. The young t people also have a high level of self-efficacy regarding their ability to advance the country if given more influence. Many important obstacles have been noted, such as youth groups' poor coordination, political parties' gatekeeping, youth priorities not being considered because of age hierarchies, and a lack of chances for civic engagement. YALI's civic curriculum, however, improved the participants' understanding of governance, their capacity for advocacy, and their drive for leadership. As such, the paper concludes that when young people are civically knowledgeable and given opportunities, they can influence positive advocacy and decision-making processes in Governance. Study beddings of this will be crucial in shaping policies that can unleash young people's democratic potential as active citizens and game-changing leaders. Hence, the policy implications of this paper are relevant to key national and international youth and democratic governance stakeholders in Africa.
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