The Political Participation of Youth

The women’s training programme, led by the national Electoral Management Body in cooperation with International IDEA, earned an Honorable Mention in the Gender Equality category in the first edition of the Global Network on Electoral Justice Awards for meeting the main criterion of contributing to a concrete and measurable increase in gender parity in public life.

“Authorities should support the voices of young activists more; instead of silencing or minimizing them, they should be used as platforms to empower, generate a change,” said Meskerem Geset Techane, a member of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls.

Through roundtable discussions, capacity-building workshops, and seminars targeting women from across Sudan, UN Women Sudan empowers young women to learn skills in alliance-building and participation in political processes.

International IDEA Sudan’s programme celebrated the graduation of the first batch from the Young Women Democracy Academy (YWDA) on 9 August 2022. The event took place in the International IDEA office, and it was attended by the Swedish Ambassador to Sudan, Signe Burgstaller, who gave the opening remarks.  Members of the Sudanese civil society and academia and people of interest were also present at the event.

On this International Youth Day, the IPU congratulates all the young MPs making a mark in their respective parliaments. They are the future of democracy but with less than 3% of MPs under 30, young people remain severely under-represented. Increasing their ranks continues to be a major focus for the IPU.

I Say Yes to Youth in Parliament! campaign

On the eve of the International Day of Parliamentarism and the IPU’s 133rd anniversary on 30 June, a snapshot of the state of parliaments and parliamentarians offers mixed results.

According to the latest IPU figures, some parliaments are becoming more representative, with the proportion of MPs who are women and who are young on the increase. However, IPU data also shows that the numbers of functioning parliaments and sitting parliamentarians have decreased slightly.