Youth participation in France: challenges and current initiatives

1. Youth participation in France: challenges and current initiatives Patricia Loncle Research Chair on Youth

2. Introduction

3. Former works on youth participation • A transversal question, through various research projects • In 2000, users’ (young and elderly people) participation in public policies • In 2004, locally elected people and their perceptions of youth participation • In 2005, political engagement of young people in cultural activities • In 2008 and following years, leader of the group on youth participation in the Up2youth project • Five countries > Austria, Ireland, Italy, France and Slovakia • 2 books • Why should young people participate ? Paris, L’Harmattan, 2008 • Beyond Discourses, Practices and Realities of Youth Participation in Europe, 2012

4. The Research Chair on Youth and the issue of youth participation • Here again, a transversal point • Young people’s participation is promoted in all our activities • Teaching, seminars, research project • As an issue and as a method • In the research axis, 2 ongoing projects • JEUPART • Young people who have broken away from public services • A project in process • PARTISPACE

5. The current issue of youth participation in France

6. The increasing interest of public authorities • Throughout European countries, a phenomenon largely observed • A consequence of various elements • The growing rates of abstention from voting • The crisis of elected people’s legitimacy • The will to cut public expenditures • The necessity to introduce new modes of decision-making processes • After the epidemic of Aids, the mad cow crisis… • The rising knowledge of populations on technical issues and their claim to be included

7. In the field of youth policies • Many attempts made by public authorities • A priority still given to formal forms of participation • Youth councils, youth assemblies • Support for youth initiatives > “Youth grant schemes” • At all levels of the decision-making process • Young people organised in pressure groups • The national Youth forum • Several national student organisations • NGO’s from the youth work sectors in support of these initiatives • “Big bang for youth policies” (2010) • Integration of young people as board members in NGO’s

8. In numerous public policy sectors • The health sector • Through various tools • Implication of groups of young people in the National conference on health • Promotion of peer education actions • To fight against risk behaviours • Poverty and access to social rights • Several spaces of joint reflection at national level • Access to rights and on non-use of services • Education • More systematic inclusion of students in schools and universities

9. Focus on the « Youth priority » document • Adopted in February 2013 • Promotes an integrated approach to youth in all public sectors (State and local authorities) • Defines the main priorities of the state towards young people • Establishes participation as one of the four main orientations of the State • « Young people yearn to be recognised as citizens. Their participation has to be encouraged and highlighted at all levels, in particular by building on their organisations and by co-elaborating policies • > a plan established at national level and that has to be declined at regional level under the authorities of Regional prefects • organisations.

10. Formal and informal participation initiatives in Brittany

11. Presentation of the project • The project is called JEUPART • formal and informal forms of youth participation in Brittany • 2 years, funded by the Regional council • 3 steps  Supports given to young people’s projects • Informal forms of participation (ongoing) • Roles of youth workers (last period) • Focus on 14 forms of support + an intensive study on 2 forms • 40 interviews with youth workers, locally elected people and young people who were laureates of the schemes

12. The studied initiatives Conseil régional des jeunes Mouvement rural de la jeunesse chrétienne Mille possibles Imagin’action Bourse projets jeunes Pass engagement Argent de poche Junior associations Espace jeunesse La Karaf Coup de pouce Initiatives jeunes Fonds rennais initiatives jeunes Fonds de participation Observatoire jeunesse Initiatives jeunes Local projects Regional projects Departmental projets

13. Young people who participate • Students are more represented than other groups of young people • 59% of students, 12% of job seekers and 9% of young people in civic service • The laureates are usually already engaged in NGO’s or experience a smooth course to adulthood • Vulnerable young people have currently to deal with more vital issues such as housing or eating • Young people are not an homogenous group • They don’t have the same needs and expectations

14. The obstacles to the universality of the schemes • The age brackets • For the youngest and the oldest • The evolution of expectations toward young people’s projects and their contents • From mobility to employability • The high level of requirement • Accountability and reporting aspects • The normative attitudes of jury members • No risk-taking • A favour given to the most ambitious projects

15. The meanings young people give to their participation • A mix between individual and collective perspectives • To learn, to experiment new realities • For their future work, their employability • For their self-confidence, their self-esteem • they develop new capacities • To get engaged in their community, with other young people • They mention • Solidarity, friendship, feelings of belonging • And… fun and pleasure!!!! • No opposition between individuals and communities

16. The roles of youth workers (1) • Young people’s opinions about this • Youth workers should • follow the initiatives, be a resource, a safe-guard when needed • be careful about the durability of young people’s short term initiatives • Recognise participation as a learning tool and integrate it into pedagogical projects • Accept to learn from young people : their experiences may be spaces of social and democratic innovation

17. The roles of youth workers (2) • What youth workers say about it • Communicate on the schemes • Towards young people and other professionals • Organisation of a mutual knowledge on the schemes • « Open the windows » • To convince young people they are able to participate • To give make them want to… • Practically support young people • Help to fill in the files, to prepare presentations, to report… • Organise the interface, the networks of young people in a community

18. The effects of youth participation on local youth policies (1) • Youth participation and commitment in communities permit a number of evolutions • They contribute to • A change in the image of youth • Not only a potential delinquent but also a person who takes part in community life • An awareness of the necessity of young people’s investment to counterbalance the scarcity of public funding • Young people’s investment is a way to develop (cheap) local cultural policies • The anchorage of young people in their community • Which is a way to preserve local dynamics and to fight against the ageing process

19. The effects of youth participation on local youth policies (2) • Regarding the decision-making process • On the one hand, classical phenomenon • The schemes are only there to give information, to gather young people’s opinions • Few financial and human means • On the other, towards a real role? • A better involvement of young people in the consultation process • Young people are seen as real citizens • A place to organise meetings with both young people and the locally elected • To help the locally elected understand young people, to get them to take risks and accept innovations • Young people who are convinced of their potential role

20. Conclusion

21. Beyond the tokenism… New practices? Informal forms MRJC La Karaf Observatoire jeunesse Juniors associations Imagin’action Argent de poche CLAJ FRIJ Pass engagement Mille possibles Dispositif BIJ Bourses projets jeunes, initiatives et coups de pouce Fonds de participation Formal forms Consultation Co-decision

22. … towards a real implication of young people? • When the schemes take the risk to offer young people a place in the co-elaboration of youth policy, they permit the following • Develop a new representation of young people and of their role in local communities • Open dialogue spaces between the locally elected and young people that reinforce local democracy • Young people are no longer seen as problems but as full actors of their community, from the perspective of public interest • This is why these schemes can be considered as one of the potential answers to the recurrent lack of recognition and to the insufficient access of young people to rights in our societies