Young people surveyed on what Youth Forum should do
THE environment, inclusion, and healthy and active lifestyles are among the top priorities of the island’s young people.
Residents aged between 11 and 18 were being canvassed in Town at the weekend, and online, to ask them their opinions on what should be the main goals of the newly-elected Youth Forum.
The group had taken over the OSA pop-up shop in Smith Street and were surveying passers-by.
The atmosphere was one of commitment and purpose, with none of the cynicism and apathy that can affect adults.
Ruairi Smith, 14, was keen to hear the feedback of other young people.
‘We have three main priorities which are health, inclusion and the environment.
‘Health includes everything, such as active life and mental health, inclusion means that everyone should have a say, and environment is something that many young people are worried about because it seems to going downhill.
‘People our age often get undermined and told that we don’t know enough and that adults should take charge, but we’re the future so we should have a say on how good the future is.’
Amelie Le Prevost, 15, said that young people’s voices mattered.
‘The planet that politicians and the older generation leave behind is the one that we’re going to inherit, so we might as well make that as best we can, make it easier for ourselves rather than having to do it later on.’
For anyone who was a teenager in the last century, youth services were mainly just after-school table tennis, but these days there is a focus on greater participation by youth in the policies and processes that touch their lives.
For instance, the Youth Commission, which supports the Youth Forum, carries out consultation with government and big organisations on issues like climate change, and it runs projects such as last year’s Big Feed, which highlighted the amount of food waste the island was creating.
Sebastian Graca da Silva, a co-ordinator at the Youth Commission, said it was vital that the input of young people was taken seriously.
‘Young people aren’t just the future, they’re the present, they’re not citizens in waiting so they should have the right to contribute to how our society is and what it looks like.
‘If there are policies that are created that affect their lives then why should they not be able to have a say in that, why do they need to wait until a certain age, actually it affects their lives now, how many 18 year olds are going through school, none, so they should be able to contribute to anything that affects their lives while they’re living it.’
