Objective 6

At the Sixth Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians in Paraguay in September 2019, we brought together some 100 young MPs from 40 countries to launch a series of training hubs for young legislators to hone their political skills. The training sessions focused on political leadership and communications through group work and one-to-one sessions. A mentorship café allowed both young and more senior MPs to share experiences and advice. MPs reported that these training opportunities empowered and equipped them to be more effective leaders.

“We certainly need more of us young MPs at the table. But numbers alone are not enough. Although we face many obstacles to be elected to parliament, we also face them once we are elected. As young MPs, we need to be empowered to lead this change.”

Outcome Document, Sixth Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians (Paraguay)

At the Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians, participants explored ways to better place people’s well-being and happiness at the centre of public policy. As well as calling for improved human capital by reducing inequalities and enhancing youth employment, education and health, young MPs pledged to move beyond gross domestic product as the only measure of a country’s performance, to more forward-thinking approaches that account for well-being.

We partnered with the World Future Council, the UNDP and the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth to organize the Future Policy Award, the so-called Oscars of best policies. In 2019, the award celebrated laws and policies on decent and sustainable jobs for youth. With both the President of the IPU and the President of the IPU Forum of Young Parliamentarians serving on the selection jury, the winners were announced at an award ceremony during the 141st IPU Assembly. The Award celebrated eight winners – Rwanda, Estonia, Scotland (United Kingdom), Nepal, South Africa, the Council of Europe, Los Angeles (United States) and Senegal – exemplifying effective youth laws and policies that can inspire others looking to leverage the power of youth.

Based on an evaluation of 67 nominated policies from 36 countries, the award process was an opportunity for the IPU and its young parliamentarians to better identify the ingredients that make for successful youth laws and policies.

No decisions about us without us! Under this motto, the IPU Forum of Young Parliamentarians continued boosting the role of youth in the IPU and in parliaments more generally as well as giving a youth perspective to international deliberations. The Forum met in April and October during the IPU Assemblies. On the agenda: monitoring countries’ progress in empowering youth and ensuring youth priorities were taken into account in the IPU resolutions adopted in 2019.

We also facilitated young MPs’ efforts to bring a parliamentary dimension to major international forums. For example, a dynamic delegation from the IPU’s Forum of Young Parliamentarians participated in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Global Youth Forum in April 2019 on youth inclusion.
 

On International Youth Day on 10 August, we launched a campaign encouraging parliaments and MPs to celebrate the IPU’s 130th anniversary through youth themes. Many parliaments around the world joined in the campaign, with special mention to Bhutan which organized a special outreach event. The campaign reached over 100,000 people through the IPU’s digital platforms.

International Youth Day was also an opportunity to promote the youth participation targets adopted by the Forum of Young Parliamentarians. Based on the proportion of young people in the population, the Forum calls for countries and parliaments to reach by 2035:

• a minimum of 15 per cent of MPs under 30 years of age
• a minimum of 35 per cent of MPs under 40
• a minimum of 45 per cent of MPs under 45.

Each target includes a gender parity provision of 50 per cent young women and 50 per cent young men.

In 2019, we continued to be the watchdog for youth participation in national parliaments. We made our unique data on young MPs publicly available through the IPU’s open data platform, Parline. This open-source data has become an international reference for parliaments, the media, academics, and civil society and international organizations seeking to research and promote youth participation. It is also one of the official reference sources for monitoring progress on indicators 5.5.1 and 16.7.1 of the SDGs.