Young Agents of Change

-Binita Karki

Productive engagement of youth, particularly in countries like Nepal where they make up a sizeable portion of the population, is key to bringing about the kind of ground-up social and political transformations that are the building blocks of sustainable development.

There’s little question that young people have a stake and a vital role to play—both as beneficiaries and actors—in the development of their countries. But their participation becomes particularly significant in countries like Nepal that are undergoing what is called a demographic ‘youth bulge’. Defined as persons between the ages of 16 and 40, youth make up 40.35 percent of the total population of the country, and it is clear that unless this large cohort can be meaningfully engaged to contribute to positive change, SDG achievement will prove near impossible.

Following the promulgation of the new Constitution in 2015, Nepal began its transition to a federal democratic republic. And as part of the series of polls conducted in 2017 to elect representatives to the new provincial and local-level government bodies, many young people filed their candidacy and even triumphed on numerous counts.

According to the Election Commission of Nepal, nearly 40 percent of those elected to public office at the local level were youth. However, that figure dropped to 26.63 percent in provincial assemblies, 14.09 percent in the House of Representatives, and even lower to 6.77 percent in the National Assembly. The numbers thus show a clear decline as we move from local to national-level politics—indicating a need for more work to engage young people throughout the different levels of political processes and decision-making.

Obviously, such efforts must extend beyond the political sphere. In an encouraging move, Nepal’s budget for fiscal year 2018/19 put forth several provisions geared to boost youth employment and self-employment. These include offering concessional loans of Rs. 700,000, at five percent interest, to young people with a higher-education degree to promote entrepreneurship, and establishment of industrial areas at the local level with the participation of the private sector, among other measures. For a country that loses over 300,000 youths to overseas employment every year, such schemes are vital to retaining, empowering and capitalizing on the young workforce—provided they are effectively implemented.

In the context of the new federalized structure of the country, and the overarching bid to decentralize government services and decision-making processes—oftentimes referred to as ‘taking Singha Durbar to every village’—it is also essential to apply this approach to the SDGs. Localization of the SDGs, in terms of both awareness and action on Agenda 2030, is key at this point in the country’s history, and youth involvement is crucial therein.

Better acquaintance with the Global Goals, and with the core ideas of equality, equity, inclusion, sustainability, and good governance that the SDGs encapsulate will help these youths learn more about their own rights and responsibilities, as well as those of local governments. In this way, they will be able to keep better vigilance over the actions of authorities, and also potentially themselves contribute to supporting service delivery and development in their own communities. This could be achieved by ensuring youth representation in local decision-making processes; educating local governments and other stakeholders about the SDGs and their commitments to the same; supporting local governments in orienting their action plans to better align with the SDGs as well as creating a more conducive environment for youth entrepreneurship; undertaking initiatives to help improve access to education for all; and helping to transfer ideas and innovation from one community to another, just to name a few.

Nepal is thus yet to unlock and utilize the full potential of its sizeable young population, and the longer it takes to engage this precious human resource—the demographic ‘window of opportunity’ that the country is enjoying at present won’t last forever, after all—the lower the chances of actually reaching our development goals.

For this to change, not only must society and the government’s perceptions of young people shift dramatically to accept the latter as active contributors to development, but young people in Nepal also need to avoid succumbing to manipulation by political entities, and focus instead on supporting and pressuring the government, development partners and other stakeholders in the implementation of youth-related initiatives and interventions. Only then can any substantive progress be made on the SDGs.