Introduction
While everyone has been profoundly affected by the pandemic, this generation of young people now face challenges unlike any other. They face overlapping crises – from physical and mental health emergencies to the climate crisis to economic hardships. They are in a world where their future cannot be taken for granted and radical changes to the ways we live are underway.
Despite the enormous and unique challenges facing young people, this report shows that there is great strength and optimism in change being led by young people and youth civil society.
Youth civil society’s lack of confidence in formal power and rejection of traditional hierarchies has led it to rely on its own creativity and embeddedness within communities to be a powerful force for good. Without youth civil society, our communities’ recovery from the pandemic to date would have undoubtedly been held back. Youth civil society has been a lifeline for their communities: rebuilding economies, addressing mental health challenges, and pushing back against climate crisis inaction.
This report also shows that youth civil society’s efforts to help communities to rebuild are at risk. Youth civil society is severely threatened.
The State of Youth Civil Society is THREATENED
Nearly three-quarters of the youth civil society members surveyed indicated that their organisations’ funding has decreased since the start of the pandemic, significantly hampering their ability to create change.
Other key challenges:
- a struggle to gain seats at decision-making tables
- an increase in mental health issues
- unequal digital access
The State of Youth Civil Society is RESILIENT
More than half of the survey respondents expressed that the state of youth civil society is currently strong, and nearly as many even believed it is stronger than ever before. Youth civil society persisted with addressing pandemic-relief issues and social-transformation causes, similar to 2020, but increased the focus on systemic, sustainable change and increased youth leadership. Recognising the opportunity of using the digital space for activism, youth civil society increasingly stood up for the rights of young people as a means to influence decision-makers.
The State of Youth Civil Society is RESPONSIVE
The majority of youth civil society survey respondents (93%) said that their organisations or groups had to make changes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most organisations reported:
- operational changes to their organisations, such as losing staff or cutting projects
- programmatic shifts including developing new approaches for influencing and pivoting to digital or hybrid means to deliver activities
Read more about the creativity and community-focused state of civil society here.