Youth political participation is at a critical crossroads. In the last few years, the youth have
felt increasingly more discontent, having been disappointed by a scarcity of social and
economic opportunities for their present and future welfare, and remained firm in a position of
indifference to formal and structured efforts aiming at social change. The pandemic has surely
made it worse, curtailing the available opportunities for training and internships, etc., inhibiting
the emergence of new job opportunities, and deepening the gender gap as evident in its
disproportionate effects on young women. There are tools currently in use among the youth for
the purposes of social change, social media being on the foreground; however, such tools have
offered only a certain limited extent of influence. How to give a louder voice to the youth? How
to enable them to affect social change?
GoFor, the national youth council of Turkiye as recognized by the European Youth Forum, and
the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, a multilateral non-governmental
organization supporting democracy and governance in Turkiye since 1998, came together in
their realization of the need to address the current information gap in order to gain a better
understanding of the youth and to mobilize their engagement.
The current climate opens two significant windows of opportunity to attract young attention
to politics. The first opportunity is based on the fact that Turkiye is the country boasting the
youngest population in Europe with its average age of 32 and the upcoming general elections
will attract a sizeable number of young voters. The challenge of understanding the youth is
a particular point of concern for politicians intent on pulling their votes to their side and for
older generations. Secondly, local government authorities, in their capacity as the closest and
most accessible public bodies for local residents, offer an opportunity for the youth to engage
in the making of decisions of relevance to themselves and to have their voices heard. Youth
participation in decision-making processes builds youth ownership over the implementation
of resulting policies and strengthens public trust in political institutions. Considering that
historically, young individuals and especially young women have not had a strong voice in
governmental decision-making, GoFor and NDI aim to affect a change here with a view to
improving the living conditions for the youth and transforming cities into places that afford
young individuals a sense of inclusion.