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 Over the past 10 years that I’ve been actively involved in advocacy for
youth participation into decision making processes as a benchmark for
sustainable development, its been said that “youth are the future
leaders.” What is this future that policy makers and ‘adult’ keep
labeling young people to be leaders of?
This question has triggered my desire to launch an inquiry into ‘what is the future then?’
Defined by the new Oxford American Dictionary the Future is “the time or a period of time following the moment of speaking or writing; time regarded as still to come.” Other successive definitions consider the future as ‘time still to come’ which I’ll like to discuss here for now. I think the future is like a piece of rod being held at a distance while a young man is asked to go and take. For every time he tries to get closer to the rod, it’s been moved by an unforeseen force to another level. The young man again tries to get closer to the rod and it moves another distance forward. The more he tries the farer it goes and he’s been caution to keep moving. The future is something that, whenever you try to arrive at, moves forward to its previous position as the future.
As illustrated above, the future is state of being that doesn’t come when you’re not trained to be ready for it. Too many mistakes have been made in the world’s perspective of youth being the future leaders. Is it future leaders by tutorialship, future leaders by followership, or future leadership by participatory learning?
When policy makers, especially those in developing countries, consider youth as inexperienced, unprepared, and unqualified to actively participate into developing and rebuilding their societies, they chose to apply tutorialship and followership as toll for youth leadership development. Tutorialship is the process wherein young people are taught how to get involved into building sustained and democratic societies through workshops, seminars, outreach, sports events, arts, etc. They are trained to comprehend the principles and act of leadership. With the tutorialship style of development, Youth never get the chance to see what the real world challenge is but learn it during the processes listed above.
Followership, on the other hand, is propelled into the game by policy makers as tool to ensuring that youth never taste the opportunity of what the real prospects and challenges, of being part of critical decision making, are. Young people are told to review from the exterior and see how decisions are made about building democratic and sustainable societies so as to be ready to make such in the future. The concept of followership as a tool to youth leadership development has always been perpetrated by politicians and government officials especially those who monitors and control state-run entities responsible for youth affairs. Most interestingly, critical issues pertaining to young people struggles and panaceas are debated, discussed and developed by “craftsman” of different age groups and generations. Application of followership concept requires that youth are careful viewers while policy makers are active members of the play in the theater.
Participatory Learning, as a tool for youth leadership development, is a process of allowing young people take up position of trust while at the same time been monitored and advised on how things are done. It suggests that leaning by active participation is the best and most pragmatic way of preparing young people for the challenges ahead of them. Because the future is a state of being that shouldn’t be hoped for but is now, young people must be given the opportunity to meaningfully and progressive contribute to the development of their societies and country.
With Tutorialship and followership being the most widely used tools for youth leadership development in the world, successful realization of active youth participation will not be achieved if we continue on this course. The current ‘adult” generation perceive young people as not qualified to participate now but conversely consider them as the leaders of tomorrow. The one confusing question is then ‘where will they get the experience from?’ The answer to this question doesn’t lie in the concept of tutorialship or followership, rather it’s embedded in the full and effective application of the theory of participatory leaning as the most pragmatic tool for youth leadership development. Because young people are savvy of the complex issues confronting them, they must be actively involved into the decisions addressing these situations. As the witty statement goes “he who wears the shoes knows where it burns.” Perception labeling youth as inexperienced and their contribution to national development paltry, must be abolished and given less attention.
On 18 December, the General Assembly passed a resolution proclaiming the year commencing on 12 August 2010 as the International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding. The Year will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the 1985 International Youth Year: Participation, Development and Peace. Full realization of the UN objectives about young people contribution to Development and Peace can never be a success until governments recognize the enormous and invaluable potential these youth possess and involve them through participatory learning. If the world wants to safe itself now and later, the concept of participatory learning must be applied for a just, equitable, democratic and sustainable society.
Urias S. Goll
BSc (Hons) University of Liberia
MSc and Environmental Economics and Management, University of York
United Kingdom
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