Gen Z Youth are scaring governments of the global North & South: how can they become constructive partners?

Service Category: Governance & Risk

Client Type: An International Peace Building Initiative (PBI)

Service: We conducted an evaluation of a PBI project: “Young Women and Men as Stakeholders in Ensuring Peaceful Democratic Processes and Advocates in the Prevention of Violence and Hate Speech”. It tried to promote youth and gender inclusion, reinforce social cohesion and avoid hateful divisions of the new social media age.

What we did: So, we:
- Reviewed the project’s results framework and implementation at national, regional, and community levels.
- Evaluated initiatives that empowered young people to engage in leadership, civic participation, and democratic processes.
- Examined mechanisms for preventing hate speech and misinformation including manipulation by exploitative political interests.
- Engaged with government, implementing agencies, youth leaders and civil society—to secure their perceptions of project impact.

Foresight Created: The intervention was of great importance and relevance, delivered before crucial national elections and complementing the efforts of others.

However, it suffered from a mismatch of the timelines of the problem and the solution: using a short/medium-term timescale to address a long-term problem.

Its impact was also diluted by a focus on the symptoms of the problem, without addressing the root-causes of state fragility. Lessons apply globally as fragility now applies to states of the global North that were hitherto beacons of stable governance.