
Five Good Ideas on working with youth to bridge the democratic deficit
From Five Good Ideas Podcast by Maytree Foundation
February 10, 2025 · 50 min · Season 22 · Episode 3
About this episode
Sharif Mahdy and Kwaku Agyemang discuss strategies for engaging youth in democratic processes and systems change.
Sharif Mahdy and Kwaku Agyemang, from the Students Commission of Canada, joined Five Good Ideas to share how organizations can engage youth to participate in systems change. “The deficit that we’re trying to address is this,” explained Sharif. “First, young people don’t get engaged and involved on these issues. Second, the process for engaging in our democracy is eroding. And the process for being able to engage in healthy discourse is being challenged for all sorts of reasons. What we’re offering here through these five good ideas is an approach that we’ve tried over time that could be scaled and could help address some of the deficits we’re currently experiencing.” Sharif and Kwaku’s five good ideas: Youth engagement is both a process and an outcome Respect, listen, understand, and communicate Mutuality is a key to navigating increasing complexity of intergenerational partnerships Work with youth to bridge the democratic deficit Youth are catalysts for systems change For Sharif and Kwaku's full bios and resources, visit the session page.
People in this episode
Host: Full Name
Guests: Sharif Mahdy, Kwaku Agyemang
Topics covered
- youth engagement
- democratic deficit
- systems change
- intergenerational partnerships
- catalysts for change
Keywords
- youth
- democracy
- engagement
- systems change
- intergenerational
- partnerships
- catalysts
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Students Commission of Canada, Five Good Ideas, Maytree Foundation
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