Seeing from our perspectives: youth budget advocacy in Ghana (PLA 64)

The neglect of vulnerable children and youth in policy and budgeting is changing in Ghana, as youth gradually become part of planning and budgeting processes. But what are the best strategies to increase youth engagement with policy makers? This article recounts the experiences of a youth budget advocacy process in Ghana done by Plan Ghana and Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC). It describes a participatory youth budgeting training process, and how the youth then went on to apply what they learnt. It also explores the possible impacts of this process. What can we learn from the experiences of these youth groups and their evidence-based budget advocacy? This article points to the need to monitor the impact of youth participation in budgeting for their communities. In order to become active citizens, children and young people need to learn in ways that promote their own sense of empowerment by being proactive and initiating their own activities – so that the learning process itself becomes a form of active citizenship.

Participatory Learning and Action (PLA, formerly PLA Notes) is the world's leading series on participatory approaches and methods. PLA publishes articles on participation aimed at practitioners, researchers, academics and activists. All articles are peer-reviewed by an international editorial board. See: www.planotes.org

Keywords: Children, youth, young people, child rights, participatory governance.