Young Voices on the Rise

In 2021, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung’s newly established Global Support for Democracy Unit started its operations. Acting as the Stiftung’s focal point for work on democracy and human rights, one of its program priorities is to support young pro-democracy actors all around the globe. Hence, with the purpose of getting a better understanding of the complex nature of youth-led social and pro-democracy movements in different regions of the world, the Global Support for Democracy Unit has launched a series of regional web dossiers with the title “Young Voices on the Rise – global youth and democracy”.

In a new era of protest movements that attain global attention, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung aims to provide young pro-democracy protagonists with opportunities to find global allies and to exchange strategies for local initiatives and movements against authoritarianism. By examining the role of youth in pro-democracy movements from a wide range of perspectives, this series aims to amplify and spread knowledge about the political involvement of youth in their respective regions and, subsequently, to contribute to international youth support mechanisms that meet the needs of young advocates for democracy in the most effective way possible.

The contributions included in the regional web dossiers account for a wide variety of topics from different angles and very personal perspectives. They are not intended to provide an analytical and comprehensive image of the contexts they come from. Most of them were commissioned to non-professional young activists who participated with their proposals to a call for ideas that was launched by the Global Support for Democracy Unit. The contributions only reflect the views, opinions and personal experiences of the respective authors.