THE CHANGING GLOBAL LANDSCAPE OF THE PAST DECADE HAS MADE CALLS FOR INCREASED ACCOUNTABILITY MORE URGENT

Since our work began almost 8 years ago, the global political and economic context has evolved dramatically. Some important progress has been made in the places we work in terms of civic participation, community engagement and innovation in governance.

But the trend overall has been largely negative. As society has become more networked, we have found it more difficult to connect with each other to push for meaningful reforms.

We have seen increasing threats to open societies; and despite rising fears about issues like immigration and climate change, there has been a continued lack of accountability of those in power.

READ MORE ABOUT HOW WE ARE TRYING TO ENSURE LEGITIMACY
IN THE FACE OF ELEMENTS OF THESE TRENDS HERE.

The global youth population is growing rapidly but young people, women and other minority groups are still largely excluded from decision-making.

In our work, we see this manifesting itself in a number of interrelated ways:

Disillusionment among young people with political systems.

A disconnect between the ideas, networks and creativity of young people that could allow systems change to take place.

A sense of isolation and an inability among change-makers to collectively push for reforms.