Centre for Youth Policy

Can young people who topple governments actually win them? As Nepal heads to the polls on March 5th, Bangladesh offers a cautionary tale.

Standing at a fork in a road with nearly 60% of its population under the age of 30, the integration of young voices into the political process is not merely a matter of demographic representation for Jordan but a strategic imperative for national stability and future development. Therefore, at a surface level, the nation's response with reform; entailing the implementation of youth quotas in parliament, lowered the candidacy age, and introduction of pro-youth legal frameworks should receive appraisal. However, beneath this progressive rhetoric lies a complex reality shaped by deep-rooted structural challenges, economic pressures, and social attitudes that raise important questions: Do these reforms genuinely empower young Jordanians, or are they largely symbolic gestures designed to maintain the status quo?

When Ibrahim Traoré seized power in September 2022 at the age of 34, he did more than lead a coup, he personified a generational rebellion against stagnation in Burkina Faso and much of Africa. In a continent where the average leader is 63 years old and where most of the population is under 25, Traoré’s rise was more than a military event, it was a symbolic restoration of youth in political command. Three years later, his policies reflect an ambitious experiment: can a young leader rewire the architecture of African governance by fusing post-colonial radical sovereignty with social reform?

Throughout South Africa’s history, young people have been central to the country’s struggles and transformations. Their courage and sacrifice marked a turning point in the liberation movement, demonstrating the power of youth as agents of change. In the democratic era, however, new challenges have emerged - mass unemployment, inequality, poor access to education, and social exclusion continue to undermine the promise of freedom for many young South Africans. To confront these persistent realities, the government introduced the National Youth Policy 2020–2030 (NYP 2030), a decade-long strategy aimed at empowering young people to lead the nation’s next phase of growth and transformation. When such a large stride has been taken by a government, how do we assess the success of such a policy? Is it in its progressive thought, or its effective change? We aim to answer this by analysing the NYP.