Youth Civic Engagement and Communication for Development and Social Change

Importance of Youth and Their Civic Engagement

Youth are the national builder, agent of change, and co-constructor of society. Youth play an important role in distributing to democracy of one nation (KAS, 2012). Youth are often considered as a force of creating social change (Wan-Ying, Yong-Chan, Joo-Young, & Cheong, 2005). They are often at the forefront of intergroup conflict, where as front-line warriors in various nations, as perpetrators of Xenophobic violence against immigrants in Germany, as student agitators against alien immigrant to the Indian state of Assam (Youniss, Bales, Chrismas-Best, Diversi, McLaughlin, & Silbereisen, 2002), as the anti-corruption movements in Latin America and Asia, as the protest of school pupils and university students in Chile against the government education policy, and not least, “Arab Spring”, the uprising of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, which it gained worldwide attention (KAS, 2012).

According to United Nations (UN) (2007) World Youth Report, youth defined by the UN as those between the age of 15 to 24, which make up to close to 1.2 billions people of the world population.

Youth’s role in democracy is important, and their civic engagement is one of the key components for exercising their citizenship (UNICEFF EAPRO, 2008). Their participation contributes to the development of communities, economies, governments, and societies (Flanagan & Christens, 2011). Therefore, it is essential to focus on the engagement of youth in civic and political activities. “We should be interested in all those affairs that affect youth and make it politically active,” said Dr. Wilhem Hofmeister, Regional Director of Korad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS, 2012, p.8).

However, there is a general observation...

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...h citizens and authorities

Loy9, from these goals, provokes a discussion on social environment where issues are found that legitimize certain behavior. It focuses on who or what responsible for the distracting behavior, rather than target the individual behavior.

Few main problems that affect youth behavior in the report are media institution, which is not validity claim (appropriateness, trust, sincerity, and comprehensibility) and affect to disaffection of youth in understating of civic/political education; commune councils on voter registration where lead to youth behave not to go to vote; and the community service. Thoses are institutions that Loy9 aims to target. Provoking a debate and target to social institution is a feature of Media Advocacy approach (The Rockefeller Foundation, 1997). Thus, it clearly shows that Loy9 project adapts Media Advocacy approach.