Youth Perspectives on South Africa’s Governance Challenges

The document details a partnership between the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and Jasoro Consulting to integrate youth voices into South Africa's APRM review. Using Hart's 'Ladder of Participation', the project moved beyond tokenism to treat youth as equal partners in decision-making. The process involved nearly 200 young people nationwide who identified key governance issues, including climate change and land rights. The authors derive five key lessons for policy actors: early consultation, recognizing youth as experts in their own experience, ensuring diverse representation, centering youth voices, and providing learning opportunities.

• The project utilised Hart's 'Ladder of Participation' to move youth engagement away from 'manipulation, tokenism and decoration' toward a model where young people share power and decision-making responsibilities with adults.
• The consultation process engaged nearly 200 young people across all nine South African provinces, utilizing online platforms and WhatsApp to mitigate urban bias and connectivity barriers during COVID-19 lockdowns.
• Youth participants challenged stereotypes that their concerns are limited to unemployment or risky behaviours, instead raising issues such as climate change, land rights and ownership, and institutional planning.
• Meaningful engagement requires consulting youth at the earliest stages of design to avoid 'blind spots' and alienation that occur when organisers determine the process before engaging young people.
• To avoid tokenism, consultative processes must provide youth with tangible benefits, such as skills development, formal public acknowledgment, and mechanisms to track the impact of their submissions.

APA

Dooms, T., & Fayoyin, T. (2021). Youth Perspectives on South Africa’s Governance Challenges. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Policy-Insights-114-dooms-fayoyin-1.pdf

Chicago

Dooms, Tessa, and Toby Fayoyin. Youth Perspectives on South Africa’s Governance Challenges. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2021. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Policy-Insights-114-dooms-fayoyin-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Dooms |first1=Tessa |last2=Fayoyin |first2=Toby |title=Youth Perspectives on South Africa’s Governance Challenges |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=June 2021 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Policy-Insights-114-dooms-fayoyin-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dooms2021youth, author = {Dooms, Tessa and Fayoyin, Toby}, title = {{Youth Perspectives on South Africa’s Governance Challenges}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Policy-Insights-114-dooms-fayoyin-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }