The P word
Lauren Rogers
By Lauren Rogers, Project Manager
“We aren't expecting that we come in and rule the county council. I personally don't think that would be responsible... but a chance to share our views and have them heard is sufficient.”
Much like the other 57 parliamentary constituencies in the West Midlands region, Herefordshire’s voter turnout at the 2019 General Election was 64% (down from 66% in 2017), less than two-thirds of the electorate.
And despite my best efforts it’s been darn hard to find out how many of those voters are under 25. In fact, I failed. Frustratingly so because P.O.V. has proven just how many rural young people are passionate about systemic change, social justice and equity, but without clear pathways or unbiased support to navigate the nuances (and party alliegences) of politics, I can’t see droves of rural young people heading to the polls at the next GE.
While P.O.V. is active in Herefordshire, we’ve got an opportunity to support young people to better understand and get involved in democracy. Above and beyond voting, we could improve political literacy from parish level to Parliament.
Fast forward a few months - following lots of research and discussion - and we’ve made improving rural young people’s ability to develop local policy and plans through participatory democracy one of the cornerstones of our bid to continue P.O.V. for another 3 years.
In the meantime I’ve worked with Hereford City Youth Council to dig into the detail of what a Rural Youth Citizens Assembly - just one model of participatory democracy - might mean for Herefordshire.
Together we ran a mock citizens assembly, held over four sessions. Sure, it was small scale, but the depth of engagement and the ‘policy’ recommendations the Youth Councillors, all under 18, put forward provided an exciting glimpse of how rural young people might respond if we ask them to get involved in formalised participatory democracy.
The group collectively decided to focus on the question: How can more young people in Herefordshire understand and engage with democracy?
Their answer? A list of recommendations, including:
Introduce accessible and cheap ways for young people to get involved with local councils
This would include working with educators to use kahoot/blooket (survey questions) in schools to engage children and young people from earlier age in a fun way.
Create spaces for young people to join in political discussions with focus on turning young people’s topical passions into motivation for political engagement.
Use art in public places (such as wall murals, student-designed posters) to illustrate the issues facing young people in Hereford. This will get young people talking!
Provide simple, impartial outlines of what different the political parties represent and, where possible, examples of what they've done in Herefordshire.
Counter preconceptions of what parties do or don’t stand for locally by inviting impartial representatives to talk to young people about each party and its views;
Use a quiz (inspired by Australian-style Voting Advice Applications aka VAAs and Political Compass) to find out how your personal views align with the different parties in Herefordshire;
Commission a cartoon/animation video from Hereford College of Art, or others, which explains on how local politics work in Herefordshire - making clear the difference between the unitary authority and city council roles
The group also agreed there’d be merit in ‘phased actions’ that would be introduced after the first recommendations were trialled. These were:
Creating a network for young people who sit on boards to come together and support each other.
More opportunities for one or multiple young people to sit on boards as representatives of young people, and/or the creation of a young person’s scrutiny board who review Council plans and decisions.
Running an event that brings together public speaking, debating, creativity and an introduction to local politics.
What is a Citizens Assembly anyway?
A citizens’ assembly is “a group of people who are brought together to learn about and discuss an issue or issues, and reach conclusions about what they think should happen”.
They’re increasingly common across the globe and, while not without a few faults, we believe P.O.V. is well placed to instigate a Rural Youth Citizens’ Assembly in the next few years, testing whether this approach does embed rural young people’s voice in the design of local policy and plan. If it works, it’s a step change.
Farewell tick box consultation, hello youth-led change.
P.O.V. is supported by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. To stay up-to-date with P.O.V. sign up to receive project emails below.