“Your voice matters” – institutions and organisations often highlight and loudly advertise youth participation with catchy slogans or images.

However, these initiatives sometimes lack genuine substance. Are young people truly involved and their opinions taken into consideration, or are the claims superficial? 

What is youthwashing and who is washing whom?

In media and public discourse, greenwashing and pinkwashing are terms often used to criticize campaigns or advertisements. Moreover, in June (known as Pride Month), the term “rainbow washing” gains popularity, describing the practice of organizations or brands publicly displaying support for LGBTQ+ rights, typically through the use of rainbow symbols, without making meaningful efforts to support the LGBTQ+ community or address their issues.

Following these trends of “washing”, Youthwashing emerged from the realms of advertising, public relations, and marketing. The goal of this strategy is to maintain a youth-friendly image and gain support (from the youth?) without genuinely addressing the needs, concerns or even the opinions of young people.

For instance, a website might show images of young people planning, discussing and negotiating, but no actual youth participation took place in the final decision-making process. Besides false claims or advertisements, this strategy often involves superficial campaigns or symbolic actions, like appointing young representatives to committees without granting them real (political) influence. 

Why do organisations feel the need to falsely claim youth involvement?

Why are organisations “washing the youth”? 

‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ as a marketing stunt

We live in an era where everything happens at lightning speed, yet there is a growing desire for moments of reflection and the chance to take a step back and disconnect from it all. 

Social Media is often held responsible for this trend of fastened lifestyles. 

On social media platforms, also brands, companies and organisations are more connected to the rest of the world than ever. Consumers can have an eye on what their brands are doing. 

Because of these societal developments, one trend that is moving at high speed, especially in economically advanced countries, is the focus on ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR). The concept involves being aware of how a business impacts any part of society, such as economic, social, and environmental- aspects. Modern Western consumers, with a stable monetary foundation, tend to care, and therefore like to know, that they are involved in doing something good or just not involved in something bad that could lead to negative outcomes. 

Unfortunately, the global and complex structure of the world and how we do trading and marketing, makes controversial activities easy to cover up. A ‘hack’ could be outsourcing the ‘dirty work’ to the subcontractors, while keeping a CSR-gold star-brand-business status.

But the concept around ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ also includes internal structures of the business itself, how decision-making is taking place and so on. This is why businesses tend to promote the fact that the staff includes employees of different ethnicities, sexual minorities, and of course: Young people. The key in the discussion is regarding “promotion”, the motivation for changes and the purpose of the business. Are you promoting a false reality for the sake of the brand and in the end a higher profit? In those cases, we use the term ‘washing’. 

There is no doubt that the attention towards youth involvement and a general need for broader inclusion in itself is a great thing, it is just important to keep in mind that CSR and other positive concepts will be misused for the aim of profit which in the end damage the credibility and the movement as a whole.

While the focus on youth involvement is a positive step in theory, it can be exploited for profit, ultimately damaging the credibility of genuine youth engagement efforts in the business world. 

But it is not just businesses and organisations that want to portray a certain socially responsible image of themselves. The political and international arenas can be equally guilty of using young people to market their efforts towards more diversity and inclusion. 

Barriers to genuine participation on the international level

For international organisations, marketing youth participation is not only aimed at increasing economic success but because it is expected of them to tackle the challenges of the future. It will be today’s younger generations dealing with those issues, and thereby it is needed and wanted that youth has a say in international organisations and political institutions. For that reason, many institutions have youth participation embedded in their structures and processes. 

That seems perfect! But is it? Let us take a look at one example!

One such window of opportunity to take a seat at the big table of international politics is the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum of the United Nations. 

The ECOSOC Youth Forum is an annual event by the Economic and Social Council and is intended to serve as a platform for young people to influence United Nations policy discussions with their ideas and demands. The target of the forum officially includes young leaders, advocates, and representatives from youth-led and youth-focused organizations to discuss and influence policy at the United Nations – a broad field. 

The objective is that those young people engage with Member States, promoting youth development and engagement. In the forum taking place for a few days in the UN headquarters in New York, participants join brainstorming sessions, panels, and discussions on key themes related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

But who are those young participants?

Regarding the selection of those youngsters, national youth councils and affiliated organizations, are responsible for choosing the right participants. Fluent in English, strong communication skills, interest in international politics and sustainability, and experience in voluntary work, such as youth committees – these are common requirements for those interested in becoming a youth delegate in the UN cosmos. High requirements limit the diversity of young people who can engage. Not everyone can afford to improve their language skills abroad or gain volunteer experience while juggling work or other responsibilities (such as care work), making the ECOSOC Youth Forum a great opportunity not everyone will be able to join. 

The ECOSOC Youth Forum has great potential for meaningful youth participation! Let’s build on this and make it even better.

If the UN desired to attract a wider, and more diverse range of delegates, there are several things they, and other organizations, can do: 

  • Provide support and resources such as mentorship and financial aid
  • Consider a broader range of (volunteering) experiences such as local and community engagement
  • Make participation more accessible by providing online opportunities

This, in turn, will enrich the discussions and decisions made within the UN cosmos and in other national as well as international organisations, reflecting a wider array of perspectives. 

What do we want?!

If you want to include young people, do not do that for the sake of including young people! That is the easiest rule when it comes to genuine, sustainable and effective youth participation not only in debates but in the decision-making process. It’s about recognizing and valuing the unique perspectives that young people bring to the table.

We do not just want to be asked and contribute a nice picture, event or position paper! We want to raise our hands when it comes to voting, and we want to be part of every stage of the decision-making process – not just the beginning and brainstorming! There have been many events where we are invited to drink a cup of coffee, share our thoughts and ambitions over a piece of cake and then shake hands with other organisations. Let’s go past the coffee & cake and engage in meaningful conversations and real discussions.s. We can offer more than “thoughts” – we have clear ideas, demands and ambitions. 

So let’s make a pact: invite us to the table and give us a real seat, a real voice, and real power.