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18 JANUARY 2010

NO 1530

Youth participation

Nearly half of all people in the world are under 25. An estimated 1.7 billion of the global population are young people (10-24); youth (15-24) comprise 1.1 billion, or 18 per cent of the world population, and adolescents (10-19), 1.2 billion. Young people (10-24) comprise almost 30 per cent of the world's population, the largest generation ever, and are growing in number. If we expanded the definition of youth up to 30 or 35 years, we will discover that more than 70% of the world population would be included.

At the moment Pakistan has the largest number of youth in its history. According to Census 1998, youth under the age of 29 constitute 70% of the total population. As much as 64.87% of the young population resides in rural areas and 35.13% in urban areas. The census of 1998 counted 56 million children under the age of 15. There were another 13 million adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19, and 11 million youth aged between 20 to 24 years. The youth of Pakistan presents the most promising resource and in huge quantity – a big reservoir of energy. If this energy is put to proper use it will bring about a complete social, economic, cultural and ideological revolution in the country. That could contribute significantly to economic growth and poverty alleviation. Indeed it is clear from the experience of many other countries that unless these assets and qualities are given the opportunity to be so applied, they can easily turn to negativism and disruption of the social order. The need, therefore, is to create increasing opportunities for them to develop their potentials, personalities and functional capabilities and enable them to be productive and socially useful.

It is a great tragedy that the vast amount of youth energy has never been channeled effectively. Young people have not been given any fair participation in many spheres of life. They have never been granted the opportunity to make use of their talents and energy in the development of the country. Young people are experiencing isolation, vulnerability, powerlessness, and idleness (due to lack of free time activities). The youth of Pakistan are caught in a multitude of problems like unemployment, poverty, remorselessness, social taboos, drugs, guns and politics.

The costs of neglecting youth can be measured in terms of the increasing incidence of crime and terrorist activities and the depletion of human and social capital.

The concept of youth participation is very new in Pakistan. The mass media like TV, radio, and newspapers are silent on this issue. The majority of Parliamentarians are still unaware about the concept of youth participation. The high-ranking civil servants and bureaucrats have never expressed any priority for this important issue. Civil society organizations, at all levels, are ignorant about this vitally important concept for National Development. Out of three citizens in Pakistan, two are young people. This is a massive untapped human capital, which has not been harnessed for the development of the country. Their potential is not recognized; instead they are considered as a problem. It is high time to identify youth participation as the vital tool for reaching out to other marginalized youth for helping to realize their full potential as well as for nation building.

The term "participation" has different meanings for different people. Although we use the word frequently in articles, books, reports and seminars there still is a big gap in its conceptual definition and practical implementation. So far, we have not been able to put forward any concrete plan of how this process of youth participation might be carried out for main-streaming youth into the process more meaningfully.

ALI RAZA KHAN

Khan, A.R. (2005). Youth Participation: From Inspiration to Action. Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, 18, 1. pp.14-15.

The International Child and Youth Care Network
THE INTERNATIONAL CHILD AND YOUTH CARE NETWORK (CYC-Net)

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