Space to Grow: Creating Safe Spaces to Foster Youth Active Citizenship

"A key feature of the My Rights, My Voice (MRMV) approach to youth engagement has been to develop safe spaces from which young people have been able to learn about their rights to health and education, develop the confidence and skills to speak out, and engage with allies and duty-bearers to advocate around their rights."

This key safe spaces approach is outlined in this case study, which discusses how Oxfam's My Rights, My Voice (MRMV) programme created such spaces by initiating or building on existing formal youth groups, creating non-formal youth spaces, and developing virtual and social media spaces. Started in 2012, My Rights, My Voice is a four-year programme which engages marginalised children and youth in their rights to health and education services in eight countries - Afghanistan, Georgia, Mali, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, Tanzania and Vietnam. A key learning arising from the programme is that different kinds of "safe spaces" may be more appropriate and effective in different social and political contexts (rural, urban etc.) and at different stages of the empowerment process.

The case study includes a number of examples of the kinds of youth spaces that were created and/or supported as part of the programme. For example, in Niger, MRMV worked with fada, informal groups of friends who were already meeting regularly - linking up five fada to form larger MRMV espaces of 100 young people (70 espaces in all). This allowed MRMV to work with both in-school and out-of-school youth, and to build on the friends' existing social organisation and relationships with each other. In Tanzania, MRMV worked to make the barazas (student councils), which are already a statutory part of the school governance system, to become more gender-sensitive and democratic. This allowed the programme to reach into every school in the target area and work with young people with no social organisation or awareness of their rights.

According to the case study, one of the most significant successes of MRMV has been the level of youth empowerment, including measurable increases in the knowledge, skills, confidence, and agency of youth in advocating for their rights. As well, young participants are passing on their knowledge and skills around gender, education, and sexual and reproductive health rights to their peers through advocacy and awareness campaigns, as well as setting up new groups. This success is attributed to "trust and openness with youth; detailed and rigorous capacity-building around a wide range of rights and advocacy issues; building support with stakeholders and allies to create an enabling environment within which young people are able to operate; and, most importantly, a willingness from MRMV staff and partners to stand back and cede control to young people where appropriate."

The case study also discusses gender, including marginalised and excluded youth. Girls play an active role in the programme, which has been achieved by "building the confidence and skills of girls and young women, actively promoting their participation and leadership, and creating a supportive environment by raising the gender awareness of parents, teachers, communities and peers." One of the lessons learned outlined from the MRMV is the need to consider not only gender and socio-economic diversity, but also the ethnicity when considering youth participation, especially in countries in fragile or post-conflict contexts. "MRMV experience indicates that ethnicity is an important factor in ensuring inclusive youth participation and also needs to be considered at every stage of programme planning and delivery."

In terms of youth ownership, it was found that the safe spaces created as part of MRMV came to be seen as being owned by youth, who facilitate or direct many of the MRMV activities, raise awareness about education and health rights with peers and allies, and proactively engage with duty-bearers. For example, in Mali, Nepal and Niger, young people decided they wanted to do more work on child marriage and/or the prevention of female genital cutting, and have been given space to organise such activities themselves. In Mali, the Youth Advisory Board led on youth mobilisation around the presidential elections in 2013.

The following are outlined as the key learnings from My Rights, My Voice around safe spaces:

• "Develop safe spaces in which young people can learn, share and collaborate.
• Promote capacity-building and training to help increase young people's skills and confidence and enable them to develop as active citizens.
• Actively promote the participation and leadership of girls and young women, and address gendered power dynamics in youth spaces. Consideration of gender should run through all capacity building and programme activities.
• Consider other barriers to participation, such as ethnicity, age and socio-economic background, which are also important. "Young people" are not a homogenous group.
• Give young people trust and space - they will reward it amply. "