Voice of a generation

Tuesday 26 February 2013

NEXT week, Holyrood's main chamber will ring with 150 young voices passionately debating key issues such as unemployment, equal wages and same-sex marriage, breaking the stereotype that Scotland's young people are politically disengaged and apathetic, at risk of becoming a lost generation.

MAKING THEMSELVES HEARD: Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament demonstrating and, below, Hamira Khan, who heads the organisation. Picture: Stewart Attwood

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Ahead of its 50th sitting, members of the Scottish Youth Parliament have plenty to say, finds Laura Smith

At what will be their 50th sitting, Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs) will be championing the views and rights of young people across Scotland as they have done since 1999.

Entirely youth-led, the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) is made up of 150 democratically elected 14 to 25-year-olds who meet three times a year to discuss local and national issues that matter to young people and put forward their own solutions.

"The MSYPs were doing fantastic work but in true Scottish nature they were being too humble," reflects Hamira Khan who, three years into her role as the organisation's CEO, has sought to raise SYP's profile beyond a "talking shop for aspiring politicians".Ms Khan says few MSYPs have aspirations to enter frontline politics, instead favouring careers in the third sector, NGOs, youth work and education. "I think the Scottish Youth Parliament has been regarded as a middle class debating society but that's not what it is. These are ordinary young kids using the Youth Parliament as a platform to have their voices heard." When harnessed, Ms Khan says that voice can be powerful. She cites the SYP's contribution to successful campaigns on votes at 16 and equal marriage as examples.For their Love Equally campaign, awarded Campaign of the Year at the 2012 Scottish Charity awards, MSYPs worked with a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) campaigning community, spearheaded by the Equality Network, to push the Scottish Government for a consultation on same-sex marriage. By making the consultations "youth friendly" MSYPs encouraged fellow young Scots to contribute 10% of the coalition's 22,000 responses within a month and continue to lobby MSPs on young people's behalf. "Choosing Equal Marriage as their campaign surprised me but it absolutely epitomises young people in Scotland – they want to live in a fair and equal society," says Ms Khan.But as a platform for the collective voice of Scotland's youth, is everybody getting their say? With a current membership breakdown of 41% female to 59% male, 10% ethnic minorities, 13% LGBT, 12% young carers and 13% disabled, Ms Khan says SYP is "more representative of Scottish demographics than the Scottish Parliament itself".It also works with 13 national voluntary organisations to represent young people from marginalised groups, including the Scottish Deaf Youth Association, Scottish Epilepsy Initiative, Quarriers, LGBT Youth Scotland and Whizz-Kidz.Ms Khan, from Glasgow's east end, is also keen "to reach out to kids from deprived areas and those who think politics are just for geeks without realising politics are all of us and the choices we make".To achieve this, SYP uses its outreach programme to inform young people about the organisation and their rights, often concentrating on schools and youth groups in deprived areas. When it comes to actively engaging young people, MSYPs know lecturing won't cut it. "We talk about issues important to young people so we're not always dictating to them. We dress down and make it engaging and interactive through speed debating, fun icebreakers and X-Factor style voting pads. In Glasgow we've also worked with young mothers through Rosemount Lifelong Learning, unemployed young people, young offenders, faith organisations and children's hospices. It's about mobilising different types of young people - sometimes it can take weeks or months but it's amazing how confident they become." But do the majority of young Scots really share the political enthusiasm of their local MSYPs? Ms Khan concedes they probably don't but points out their work "isn't always about politics, it's about issues". She says: "Young people are so well-informed. Maybe not about Government policies or the Edinburgh Agreement, but about what's going on in the real world and I think the two can learn a lot from each other."There's the negative perception, especially in the media, of teenagers as hoodie-wearing thugs but young people volunteer more than older people and keep themselves busy."Having campaigned consistently for votes at 16, the Edinburgh Agreement was monumental for the SYP and made its role in helping the Government engage with the young electorate even more vital.By giving a vote in the independence referendum to 16 and 17-year-olds, the agreement sets out a challenge for organisations such as the SYP, Ms Khan says: "I see our role as working with other organisations such as Education Scotland, Young Scot and NUS to make sure we give young people access to correct and impartial information so we're empowering young people to make that decision for themselves."Meanwhile Ms Khan advises politicians to engage with young people directly as informed citizens, not voting fodder: "Don't patronise them, be genuine. Go where young people are and make it relevant." Being social media-savvy won't hurt either. "It's about communicating differently and young people prefer social media. It's more 'get straight to the point, what can you tell me in 140 characters?' I think in general we need a lot more trust and credibility - more debate and discussion from Parliament."With SYP's 2011 manifesto receiving 42,804 responses and with 85,000 votes cast in that year's election, Ms Khan says this shows 10% of the youth population at least have experience in casting a ballot.But that leaves an overwhelming number of young people still to reach and with a generally low voter turnout among 18 to 25s – only 44% participated in the last UK General Election – Ms Khan admits her MSYPs have their work cut out."We want to mobilise and empower young people to vote. To promote the benefits and show how this decision will affect them."Our priority is to make sure all 16 and 17-year-olds have access to impartial information and we will work with the Government to ensure every young person can vote, to mobilise young people to turn out and vote on the day itself in 2014. We want to show that when we give young people that opportunity, they'll embrace it."

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