News article | 01-06-2023 | 10:21
In many countries where the Netherlands is involved in development cooperation, the average age is between 15 and 25 years old. By working with young people and listening to their experiences, we better understand what is really happening in these countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs therefore works with a youth advisory committee. After a successful 20-month pilot, the project will now benefit from multi-year monitoring.
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In November 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with the National Youth Council (NJR), set up a Youth Advisory Committee. Over the past twenty months, ten young internationals have worked on six long-term assignments and various short projects and are now handing over to new members.
The new Youth Advisory Committee is made up of five experienced members from the original committee and five newly recruited members. These were chosen from more than two thousand applications. The members are all under 30 and come from ten different countries: Burkina Faso, Iraq, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Jordan.
Read more about the Youth Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Youthatheart.nl (English)
successful pilot
Daisy Kandole from Uganda is one of the experienced members. She looks back on the pilot period, where she received a mission on sex education. “It was nice to get my fellow committee members together and hear the thoughts of other young people. For example, on the role of men in sexual health and reproductive rights, the possibilities of digitization and the importance of sex education. We worked in close collaboration with project managers, which made me realize: when young people and adults work as a team, a lot can be achieved!
Sinan Abderrahim Assaid of Jordan also has a positive view of the past few months. He coordinated one of the missions on education. The committee produced a report containing recommendations for the democratization of stock exchanges. “Our knowledge and experience of the economy, cultures and religions of our own countries helps us to enrich the decision-making process within the ministry. During discussions with the ministry, we can reveal the hidden risks of our own context and propose innovative solutions.
Daisy Kandole and Sinan Abderrahim Assaid.
Lessons learned
A successful pilot project has demonstrated that the valuable opinions and advice of the Youth Advisory Committee contribute to a development policy that better responds to the wishes and concerns of young people. The project will therefore have a multi-year follow-up. The National Youth Council has compiled all the lessons learned from the pilot period in order to further improve the cooperation between the ministry and the youth advisory committee in the coming years. The result is a detailed step-by-step plan for policy makers with tips and ideas for effective collaboration.
A new batch
During the months preceding the summer, the members of the committee will first get to know each other, the ministry and the political subjects. Working with the ministry, the committee selects five to eight topics for members to work on over the coming year. The Youth Advisory Committee will begin the first assignments at the end of June.
Sinan and Daisy already have important advice for new committee members. Daisy: Sinan adds, “Don’t be afraid to come up with bold ideas. Diplomats should be politically correct, but not you! You are a young person here to help make a global social impact, so make your voice heard! »