PPLI Participates: The Quest for Youth Inclusion in Formal Decision-Making

Nazley Sharif, DA

Conversations also focused on establishing gender responsive policies in the region, specifically addressing the high rates of violence against women in South Africa.  Nazley Sharif, a member of South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA) serving as a Minister of Parliament (MP),  brought attention to the high rates of gender-based violence and femicide (GBV-F) against women in her presentation, citing the lack of education, sensitization, and accountability amongst frontline workers and government officials. Solutions MP Sharif identified to capacitate frontline workers included implementing GBV-F curricula within frontline worker training and strengthening public service responses to incidences of GBV-F. Since participating in PPLI, MP Sharif is further developing and researching her policy topic to submit as a private member’s bill to Parliament.

To bridge the gap between youth party members and political party leaders, the symposium featured a guest panel discussion of experienced politicians who shared their political journeys, particularly addressing challenges they faced throughout their careers. Senator Kipchumba highlighted the importance of mentorship for adequately preparing youth party members for leadership roles within political parties. The Senator, who entered politics at a young age, explained how a leadership initiative similar to PPLI provided a platform to engage with seasoned politicians and build his political capacity through local community engagement activities, thereby allowing him to successfully run for office in the 2013 Kenya elections. 

Kefilwe Boikhutso, BPF

In sharing their personal experiences as youth party members, PPLI panelists and presenters also highlighted challenges, including financial barriers which disproportionately impact young people’s participation, specifically as candidates. Kefilwe Boikhutso of the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) shared that without adequate funding, candidates are expected to bow to the requests of donors with ulterior motives. Kefilwe proposed that political parties should make organizational commitments to allocate adequate funding to youth structures within the party, thereby providing youth party members with resources to further engage with young people and a platform to address their needs. 

Despite challenges, youth party members from the SEA region shared that progress is being made towards ensuring adequate youth representation within political parties, particularly through the establishment of youth structures. The PPLI symposium provided a platform for youth party members to exhibit their work through their respective parties to institute systemic changes within their communities and promote young people’s political participation, while engaging with seasoned politicians on their experiences to date. In his remarks, NDI regional director Dickson Omondi emphasized the importance of the policy focus of PPLI and that the initiative hopes to one day engage with other sub-groups within the demographic to increase the political participation of marginalized youth.

NDI will commence the next iteration of the PPLI program this fall with a new cohort of young leaders from the region. Through PPLI 2021, NDI will continue to engage youth party members and party leadership to promote inclusive decision making processes and youth responsive policies.

NDI is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental organization that works in partnership around the world to strengthen and safeguard democratic institutions, processes, norms and values to secure a better quality of life for all. NDI envisions a world where democracy and freedom prevail, with dignity for all.