2023-10-05 00:45:00
The first thing is to ask. Asking the question and listening to the answer, and giving it value, is wise. This is why kids ask why, and teenagers ask themselves how and when. Both look for answers, and they do well when they doubt the first answer, quick and beautiful but empty, perhaps because they know that certain answers often discourage them from continuing to ask.
Before doing, or proposing, or promising, or giving and giving away, you must know. However, I am not aware that any of them have asked them anything, and this leads to fear that there will be more of the same, as until now, that is, answers to questions that no one asked, and this implies more immobility and more hopelessness.
Boys, adolescents, young people up to 25 years old represent more than a third of the total Argentine population, and this is good news. In Argentina there are more minors than retirees, and this is also good news. It is good news because it is the symptom of a country that has a future, and that has it within reach. On the other hand, where the usual ones are the vast majority, and this is the reality of many countries and quite a few institutions, their days are numbered there.
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Even though they are the present and the future, even though they are the hope of a long-awaited change, I don’t remember them being asked what you would like your world to be like, your country, your environment, your city, your neighborhood, your school. , your street, your square, your house, your bed and your belly. But I do remember how they blasted them with fair music, with soccer games, with cornets that stun and flags raised, with teacher strikes, with pediatricians who don’t exist, with the stridency of someone who speaks, and shouts, and shouts, and spits. for not listening.
The world knows numerous survey experiences, aimed particularly at children and adolescents, to find out what they think regarding this or that, to know what worries them, what improvements they want for the neighborhood, the school, etc. That is, what they would like politicians to do for them. If the answers are then taken seriously, with them programs can be designed that benefit people in those points that they complain regarding, and not in the issues that interest the politicians in power. They must keep in mind that the fact of obtaining a chair does not imply that they also obtain the wisdom and skills required to do well what is needed.
So, you have to ask before doing. This is beyond the political tone of the politician in power, and fulfills the politician’s primary obligation, which is to serve others. Asking, then, is necessary. The results are surprising.
A few days ago, the responses to a macro-consultation aimed at boys and young people between 10 and 25 years old from all over the world were released. The organizers are thus preparing for the World Teen Forum 2023, which will take place on October 11 and 12, in person in Paris and online for everyone through this link, in Spanish: www.1point8b.org/es .
Until last month, they had collected just over a million responses, the vast majority coming from low- and middle-income countries, including Argentina. It is regarding responding freely to this question: “To improve my well-being I want…”
The responses are then grouped into five themes: 1) Learning, competencies, education, skills and employability; 2) Safety and a supportive environment; 3) Good health and good nutrition; 4) Connectivity, positive values and contribution to the community; 5) Resilience (ability to adapt to adversity, trauma, tragedy, threat, etc.).
It is not surprising to observe that almost half of the responses refer to the first theme, that is, education as a means to improve the present and aspire to a better future. This is how it is seen that education is a priority for children and young people and, therefore, it must be a priority for politicians. Votes, following all, are a trust that is placed in a citizen so that he, as a politician, responds to that trust by doing what is clearly necessary to do. In the case of children and adolescents, this is education and health, especially for the most vulnerable.
Argentine participation
While thousands of children and youth voices in India demand educational and health improvements through this macro-survey, and many others in Africa demand more or less the same thing, there are few, very few voices in Latin America that have responded, although responses are accepted in all languages and from all countries.
Argentine participation has been minimal, as if Argentine children and young people were interested in the present or the future. Mistake. The most likely reason to justify the minimal Argentine participation in this survey is because they did not find out, because no one told them anything. As if there was a will in authority to keep them ignorant. So, it seems to be clear that here there was not (as there was in other countries) the will to disseminate the initiative in youth circles throughout the country in order to gather the opinion of young Argentines. This is negligence or incompetence, or more likely the will to not want to ask anything so as not to be forced to know, and then act accordingly.
I guess there’s still time to participate. And there will always be time to learn. Meanwhile, the World Adolescent Forum 2023 (www.1point8b.org/es) is finalizing its preparations. Among the solid messages that they put for the consideration of children and young people, and therefore of the politicians who must assume responsibility for them, I highlight this one in particular: “Today, the world has more young people than at any other time in history. However, too many of today’s 1.8 billion young people (aged 10 to 24) are not reaching their full potential due to the failure of current policies and investments to meet their needs. “Youth for Change is a bold global movement that asks young people what they want for their health and well-being, and generates answers for decision-makers to transform these answers into policies, investments and actions.”
More than a million responses, all from children and adolescents who cry out for serious and responsible answers because they see the present as dark and the immediate future even darker. The majority of responses come from young people between 16 and 20 years old. In the Spanish version, all the answers areand can be consulted at this link. Answers can be filtered according to the topic, according to the country, according to the age or sex of the person answering. To know, of course, before doing.
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