Young people not apathetic, just misunderstood
Young people not apathetic, just misunderstood
The engagement of young Australians in activities that are driven by and have the potential to bring about meaningful change provides fertile ground for our understanding of the way in which young people participate in democracy.
There are also challenges for policy makers and governments to build on and recognise this engagement as a valuable and tangible consequence of the imagining by young people of how a democratic society can benefit from the participation of its citizens.
The Whitlam Institute and the University of Western Sydney Office of Engagement have been working for the past year on a project that seeks to understand how young people participate in democracy and what they imagine as an effective democracy, for them and all citizens. The project has funding support from the Foundation for Young Australians.
A key focus of the project is to examine the ways in which young people view democracy; what it means for them, how they participate and their visions for the future.
The Whitlam Institute has convened a one-day discussion forum comprising approximately 50 invited experienced and younger changemakers who will meet at the State Library in Sydney on 27 September to discuss and debate changemaking in our democratic society, and the assumptions that underlie our democratic institutions in the face of new forms of youth participation.
These issues have potential implications for future policymakers and also for the future of the institutions that are integral to our current notions of what constitutes a democratic society.
In late August a literature review, authored by Phillipa Collin from the Inspire Foundation, was launched. The review and its key findings are now available on our website. You can read some of the media coverage here, here, here and here.
