Young people take on the tough art of negotiation

Two key themes at the meeting have been peace building and youth mainstreaming, with calls for young people to be integrated into decision-making processes within government, regional bodies and the local community.

A workshop over the weekend proved a lively challenge to participants when they were asked to play the roles of leaders and peace negotiators in a conflict scenario.

Ebonie Fifita, 23, from Tonga said it had made her conscious of the challenges and responsibilities she and other young people faced: “I draw the analogy of development as an engine that we must work with for it to be sustainable for young people. We must analyse that engine and come up with solutions.

“The workshops and role-playing made me aware of how we say things, how we present ourselves, how we use opportunities – and importantly, when to remain silent.”

She said that in Tonga, the lack of youth representation at decision-making levels had resulted in apathy amongst many young people. “They are not interested in politics, not interested in our country,” she said.

Although there was a high rate of literacy in Tonga, she explained how intelligent and educated youths could not find work and there were few mechanisms in place to help them set up their own businesses. She described a widespread attitude of “education does not get me anywhere, so why take it”.

Ebonie, who works for a youth NGO back home says her experience over the past few days will help her to look at ways of implementing a national youth strategy, which is currently being discussed in Tonga.

Cameroonian Emmanuel Sanyi, 27, who played the difficult role of a dictator at the workshop, said he had learned that negotiation was a tough thing: “Sometimes, when I watch leaders on television, it seems that talking is an easy thing, a normal thing. I realised that they are shaped by their history.”

In his country, unemployment and a lack of skills were a problem for young people. “Young people need to participate more in decision-making. They have good levels of education, good levels of intellect, but there is no space to participate,” he said.

When he returns to Cameroon next week Emmanuel will be conducting three workshops involving both young people and adults. “We will look at how to generate the skills for young people to participate in real decision-making in all aspects of government, not just on youth matters,” he said.

“We will bring adults into the process -- including politicians at national and local level, business people and traditional leaders, too. We all need to be educated in the process of youth participation.”

Key Links:

• Commonwealth Youth Programme
• Country Profile: Sri Lanka