From Participation to Influence

This week’s Field Notes made one distinction especially clear: youth participation is not the same as youth influence.

Across the UN, UNICEF, UNESCO, and UNDP, young people are increasingly being invited into discussions about education, democracy, and global policy. But a seat at the table matters only if young people can help shape what happens next.

The four cases also showed that youth activism takes many forms, from student protests and digital campaigns to participation in education policy. What connects them is the effort to move from being heard to being taken seriously.

That shift has changed how I think about advocacy. Visibility can start a conversation, but lasting impact requires evidence, strategy, access to decision-makers, and accountability.

Young people do not need to wait until adulthood to participate in public life. The real challenge is building systems that allow their ideas to influence the decisions shaping their future.