Borrowing the future from our children
Young people have been seen as well as heard in Scotland of late.
At the recent Scottish Parliamentary elections earlier in May, young people aged 16 and 17 voted for the first time in a UK election. This followed the successful enfranchisement of this age group in the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014.
In 2014, 109,593 16 and 17 year olds voted in the referendum (Electoral Commission 2014). You wouldn’t want to exaggerate the importance of this, but it is, in my view, an important move in the right direction. Out of the total number of votes cast – 3,623,344 – this represented just over 3%. This was unlikely to tip the balance of the vote, but represented a significant political shift for this age group. An ICM post election poll estimated that 75% of 16 and 17 year olds voted.
So how did the figures stack up this time round in the Scottish Parliamentary elections? It’s too early to say, but basing any calculation on the fact that the turnout for the Scottish elections was a rather less impressive 55% (compared with 85% for the Indyref), young people’s contribution will have been relatively meagre in consequence.
That said, it is important not to underestimate the impact of this shift in the electoral tectonic plates.
In the early years of the 21st century, I had regular contact with the Scottish Youth Parliament (www.syp.org.uk). I took an active interest in the evolution of this youth-led body as it found its feet organisationally, emerging from its youth work origins. One of its earliest campaigns was to secure votes from age 16. In my judgment, through their efforts in informing and lobbying members of the Scottish Parliament, they played a formative role in making this a reality.
But why is it worth hearing the views of 16 and 17 year olds?
A few years ago I was part of the team based at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) which researched and developed a quality improvement framework for organisations in the third sector. Based on the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model, it was called ‘The Big Picture’, and made use of what we would now call an assets-based approach. We suggested that the process of quality improvement in an organisation needed to begin with the skills, aspirations, and ‘know-how’ of the organisation’s stakeholders. These could be defined as the service users orcustomers, staff, volunteers, partner organisations, funders, and others. By listening to their voices and views, you would be able to identify a strategic direction, develop practical methods of implementation, and create yardsticks which would allow you to measure progress. It worked for me back then, and I still use the framework in my consultancy projects with voluntary organisations, social enterprises, and public sector bodies.
Where does this fit in to young people voting?
Young people are the ultimate stakeholders in the way our society evolves. Who has the greatest investment in the values and structures that we create, if not the younger generation? If they’re not motivated to help shape the world of the future, then we’re all stuffed! There are more than a few parallels between running an organisation and the process of democracy. Leadership would be one. The best leaders are nurtured within a community, but have the vision and connections to step beyond it, and influence the wider world.
There would seem to be no shortage of evidence of young people in Scotland being ready to take on leadership roles. Whether seen in the heated political discussions round our kitchen table with our children’s friends during the Indyref; or young people grasping the nettle in youth organisations such as the Scottish Youth Parliament or more traditional youth movements like the Scouts; or the meteoric rise to formal political office of Mhairi Black (the youngest MP for 350 years) in 2015, or the more recent election of the 21 year old Ross Greer as a Green MSP to the Scottish Parliament.
These are symptoms of a greater engagement of young people. In themselves they don’t constitute a revolution. We would do well to consider how we best encourage young people to develop leadership skills and take on positions of responsibility. We can do this in our own organisations and businesses. As a philosopher once said – we don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
Simon Jaquet is Director of Simon Jaquet Consultancy Services Ltd, and has over 30 years experience of policy and practice work with young people through youth work, schools, and volunteering (in Scotland, France, Germany, and Botswana). His main areas of expertise are research & evaluation and organisational development. Get in touch with him here.
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