Looking Forward

Young people should be at the heart of any programming that involves working with them. We thank the more than 900 young people consulted in the survey and FGDs for their contributions. Their insights provided a window into their experiences, examples, and ideas for more inclusive youth engagement through civic education programming.

While this guide focuses on program design, it is equally important to tie programming content to themes and trends that influence democracy. We know through evidence-based research that the stability of democracy is directly linked with young people’s engagement. More research is needed to study how youth-led and -focused civic education programming can fight back when corruption or authoritarianism threaten democracy. It is important to develop a deeper understanding of actions taken at the local and community levels and how they can influence political processes at the national level.

This guide is one step in that direction. Concrete action must follow to ensure that these goals are met. In the next phase of this research, IFES will publish an interactive data visualization as a companion to this guide. It will disaggregate findings based on respondents’ demographics, regions, and the survey questions themselves. We hope this data and the analysis in this guide will support implementers around the world in creating more responsive, youth-informed programming that can help create strong and vibrant democracies.