Young NIMD

About 35 student leaders, members of youth wings and NGOs came together for this event in Ada-Foah, which was organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). Three representatives of Kenyan youth wings were present to share their experience.

On behalf of Young NIMD Corien Herweijer (CDjA - Christian Democrats), Ferdinand Haselaar (Jonge Democraten - Liberal Democrats) and Truus van der Sloot (PerspectieF - Christian Union) were present at the conference. This is how Truus looked back upon their visit to Ghana.


What is the position of youth within the political parties in Ghana?
"Generally speaking the youth wings are quite incorporated in party structures. They are not as independent as our youth wings in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, they are the backbone of the party, because they monitor the registration of voters, spearhead campaigns and are a driving force in internal party elections.

Apart from some independent members the parliament in Ghana consists of 4 main parties. Their youth wings are officially recognized in the parties’ constitutions and have an office at the National Headquarters of their party. The leader of the youth wing is a member of the party’s National Executive."


What is the most important challenge for the youth when it comes to politics?
"Although the youth wings are important to the parties, young people in Ghana play no part in decision-making processes. They lack representation and most of the time do not even have a role in implementing certain rules and regulations. The main challenge is the mindset of both the people and the politicians in Ghana. Under 40 you are considered too young to have a say. That is why one of the main topics of the conference was how youth wings and other groups can move from activism to participation.

One of the best examples brought up during the conference was the recent development of a National Youth Policy by the government. Hardly any youth groups have been involved, not even the national student organization which represents all university students in Ghana. In the past they have been an important force to be reckoned with and today they could be really influential, looking at their membership base. According to one of the participant the National Youth Policy will be seen as 'either dropped from heaven, or as a partisan document'."


What was the main result of the conference?
"In Ada-Foah the participants decided to set up a Political Youth Platform which will consist of two young representatives of each party in parliament. Its main objective is to implement the findings of the conference, to develop strategies on participation in decision-making and to work together across party boundaries. NIMD’s partner IEA also selected talented youth to take part in a mentorship programme for political leadership.

The meeting in Ada-Foah was a follow-up to a conference in October 2006, when, for the first time, political youth wings came together to discuss the situation of youth in Ghana. This multiparty dialogue was a new, but positive experience that even resulted in a joint statement. This was remarkable considering the fact that the participants from different parties had almost refused to travel together in one bus to the conference venue."

What did Young NIMD do at the conference?
"We shared our views on strategic youth involvement. Corien explained how the youth wing of the Christian Democrats actively campaigns for youth candidates in Parliament. Ferdinand presented successful examples of lobby work and “street campaigning” by the young Liberal Democrats. I talked about the cooperation of different Dutch youth wings within Young NIMD and about the fact that financial resources were not the only key to success: by organizing petitions and connecting to the right people the Christian Union youth wing PerspectieF managed to keep several themes on the political agenda.

Our presentations resulted in an inspiring discussion about the actual independence of the Dutch youth wings, regarding the fact that they achieve funding from their mother parties. We also discussed how the Dutch youth wings have been successful in organizing campaigns and other types of actions to get their ideas across. And that there are enough possibilities within the law to achieve these things."


What impressed you most about the visit?
"'The chairman of the conference called upon every single participant to 'move from rhetoric to reality'. All participants agreed that is was time for the Ghanaian youth to make themselves heard and to increase the role of youth in decision-making processes. In this respect it was important to listen to the views of the Kenyan youth representatives. They explained how they have tried to undertake actions to realize a bigger role for youth in Kenya. During some of their demonstrations on the streets several people even got killed. This clearly showed that moving from activism to participation is certainly not an easy calling."