This paper problematises the paradox of ineffective youth participation in Uganda despite their demographic electoral dominance. The paper argues that ineffective youth participation in political and development processes results from high levels of underemployment, which has fuelled youth poverty and subsequently entrenched clientelistic political systems. The discussion in this paper reinforces the salience of the old debate that links economic democracy to political democracy. Key findings in this paper point to the need to place the unemployment problem at the centre of civil society future advocacy work.

There are numerous reports on Youth Political Participation in Uganda. However, these reports and interventions do not bring out the quantitative aspects of Youth Political Participation which makes it an obscure subject yet it is a lived reality that for Uganda to build and consolidate her journey towards democratization, Youth Political Participation has to be effectively pursued and realization. Youth Political Participation in this paper is measured from a) voter registration; b) nomination at both Special Interest Group elections; Local Government elections and National Elections and c) numbers of young people in elective positions. This qualitative data is good for understanding Youth Political Participation trends from 1996 to 2021. Analysis is made of both the statutory and non statutory structures for Youth Political Participation right from the NUYO in 1966 to the NYC created by 1993 NYC Act. This paper notes that despite numerous efforts by government and partners to entrench the participation of young people in decision making processes, a lot is still desired due to various challenges such as monetization of politics, poverty, lack of access to information among others. This paper notes that the Power of Dialogue programme has performed exceptionally well in areas of Youth Political Participation through targeted trainings of youth leaders; establishing platforms for dialogue and civic engagement such as the annual National Symposium on Youth in Politics; Creation of the Multiparty Youth Forum (MYF) that brings together both statutory and non statutory youth representative organs and structures among other programmatic interventions. It is recommended that among others 1) more capacity building is done for youth leaders; b) special focus is put on mentoring youth to take up positions at the Higher and Lower Local Government levels; c) more financing for youth political participation is sought by bot government and development partners; d) structured advocacy for regulation of campaign financing is undertaken and e) proactive engagement by POD partners on the Electoral Commission roadmap so that young people are not locked out of electoral participation on grounds of early closure of voter registration.

Democracies recognize voting as either a right or a duty that citizens engage in to express their views on how they choose to be governed however, voluntarily or involuntarily majority citizens fail to cast their vote. Unfortunately, those that turnout to vote do not systematically represent both the eligible and larger population which has left a question as to whether there is a correlation between voter turnout and political participation. The goal of this paper is to persuasively suggest compulsory voting as a tool to increase youth political participation in Uganda. This study argues that compulsory voting indeed can increase political participation in different ways through education, voter turnout, legitimacy of youth leaders amongst others. The author is very convinced that the benefits of compulsory voting on political participation need to be realized for young people to participate in the political arena.

Uganda with 77% of its population under 25 years is one of the countries in the world with the youngest population. Youth engagement in politics is key in shaping and informing an objective understanding of critical issues affecting the needs of communities, acting as a guide that enables the contextualization of policy and legislative controls to meet the needs of a population. However, the Inadequacies around effective domestic legislative frameworks providing for Youth participation in elections is just part of the larger dynamics affecting youth elections in Uganda. Gender discrimination, low civic competence, socio-cultural prejudices, and the seemingly threatening lack of an appropriate electoral system among others. The use of the Electoral college system in youth elections is far detached from the dynamics that inform youth elections and thus only disadvantages the potential of youth elections to influence and shape informed and democratic

African Youth Development Link (AYDL) is a dynamic nonprofit; a nonpartisan youth-led development organization established in 2008, AYDL works to provide a link between youth and governance policy processes in Uganda so that we are each part of something larger than we are. We strive to advocate for the implementation and reform of laws and policies for increased youth participation in leadership and democratic governance processes at local and national levels for progress and change. Since 2014, AYDL has been coordinating the Youth Coalition on Electoral Democracy in Uganda (YCED) — a coalition of youth-led civil society organizations united in the desire to create synergy in various electoral democracy efforts currently being undertaken throughout Uganda. Through its flagship program, coordinated the National Youth Manifesto (NYM) agenda 2011 –2016, 2016 –2021, and 2021-2026 that highlights key policy priorities/demands by youth to the political parties, candidates in an election, and the subsequent government and emerging as a symbolic ‘youth collective voice‘ in Uganda‘s development discourse. Therefore, in the interest to harness youth potential, AYDL collaborated with the Youth Coalition for Electoral Democracy and set up a youth domestic election observation framework to observe the 2021 general elections. The observation focused on pre-election, Election Day, and Post-election; it aimed at monitoring and observing the electoral process to make recommendations for elections work for the people through citizens centered credible, inclusive, free, and fair process with acceptable outcomes. Having been duly accredited by the Electoral Commission with 150 election observers

This chapter explores the manner in which Zambian university students engage with public policy decisions which are of immediate and future interest to them. It observes that the youths may have little faith in representative democracy and instead are utilizing social media platforms to directly engage with decision-makers and publics, and thus subverting the essence of the authority of parliament. The study uses descriptive survey design and the methodology of “Briscolage” to capture and scrutinize two politically charged cases, and concludes that the youth globally may be challenging liberalism and in that way fashioning a new narrative entrenched in postmodernism.

This study examined the Youth Political Participation in Nigeria, focusing on Kwara State as a case study within the period of 2011 and 2015. The study adopted quantitative method of research based on the three variables of voting behaviour, party membership/attachment and protests or demonstration in the last two years. However, this area of study is just developing in this part of the world. The life cycle-factors and generational effects are considered to be responsible for the low level of participation in advanced democracies, apart from those two, the period effect of colonialism, incessant military intervention in politics and a relative subjective political culture and poor political socialization are responsible for the low level of youth political participation in Nigeria. A well structured, closed and open-ended questionnaire was administered on 350 respondents in six (6) local government of the state, two per senatorial districts in the state selected through a combination of simple random and quota sampling techniques .The questionnaires were administered to people between the age brackets of 18-35. Since there is no generally acceptable definition of who is a youth, this study however decided to adopt the definition of who is a youth according to the 2009 Nigeria's National Youth Policy who defines youth using the age bracket 18-35.Data gathered were analyzed using percentile, bar charts, tables and logistic regression model. Findings revealed that Kwara youth are likely to engage in conventional mode of participation than unconventional mode of participations with variations. Voting in general election is the prefer pattern of conventional participation. Furthermore, apart from age, local government of residence, years of residing in the local government, level of education, marital status, and occupation have a significant influence on youth political participation in Kwara State.

The contemporary world has the largest population of the youths in history. However, they are not entirely active in political governance during and after elections. The situation is truer in Africa and Malawi in particular. Many youths are indifferent to participation in political governance. Malawi has youth policies; however, much of it remains in books. The study sought to establish how culture, trust in governance structures and civic education affect participation of the youth in political governance in Blantyre, Malawi. The study employed a case study research design on a sample of 400 drawn from a target population of 9,974 youths. Primary data was collected using questionnaires and Focus Group Discussions. The collected data was analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics to determine the relationship between variables. The study found that 70% of the youths are not actively involved in politics. Furthermore, culture and trust in governance structures do not affect youth participation in political governance significantly. However, civic education affects youth participation in political governance in Blantyre significantly. The study recommends enhancement of civic education. An introduction of civic education in primary and secondary schools and sensitization on duties and rights of citizens to the youths.

This article focuses on youth participation in politics and how they perceive political involvement. It is widely perceived political thuggery is attributed to the youths as they are easily manipulated to be the strong arm of political parties. The past and present regimes have demonstrated, the positive lack youth participation in politics. This thus necessitates a fresh and present interrogation of the problematic. This article examines based on past political representations, the existing perspectives and current interrogations the standpoint of youths involvement in politics. This is to further broaden the knowledge on the subject matter and present probable future landmarks to the participation of youth in politics.