This toolkit is a collaboration between Accountability Lab and the Open Government Partnership (OGP).

Young people aged 15-24 account for 16% of the global population. In some regions, Africa for instance, youth make up 60% of the continental population. As such, they are a key stakeholder group in any policy or decision-making process and bring different experiences, needs, and expertise that are vital to the success of government policies and approaches. Young people have always been willing to challenge the status quo but have historically had difficulty ensuring that their voices and ideas are included in policymaking processes. With massive demographic shifts around the world, enhanced connectivity, and rapidly evolving ideas and networks, youth are now more able, powerful, and willing to drive open governance than ever before.

This toolkit shares open government success stories and best practices around the value of engaging young people in open government processes. It builds on learnings from the OpenGov Youth Collective, which was created during the 2019 OGP Global Summit in Ottawa through which 16 delegates from 14 countries fed ideas for youth inclusion in open government efforts. It also builds upon Accountability Lab’s experiences working with young people all over the world to make governance work for citizens. Each year we have seen more and more youth groups engage in OGP.

With this in mind, the OGP Youth Toolkit is designed to:

• Demonstrate the necessity and value of the intentional inclusion of young people in the co-creation of OGP national and local action plans
• Offer a model for effective youth participation and cooperation between young people and Points of Contact (PoCs) in OGP and other formal political processes
• Facilitate the meaningful and active participation of youth in OGP co-creation processes by providing practical tools, sample commitments and recommendations supporting the implementation of the Youth Engagement Power Plan
• Provide tools and resources to young reformers as well as points of contact and government officials looking to engage young people in open government reforms. It also builds upon the Lab’s experiences working with young people all over the world to make governance work for citizens.