Supporting Youth Participation in Health and Climate Justice Through Advocacy Training Comment on “Between Rhetoric and Reality: Learnings From Youth Participation in the Adolescent and Youth ‎Health Policy in South Africa‎”

This paper responds to lessons from the Adolescent and Youth Health Policy (AYHP) process in ‎South Africa by drawing comparisons with youth participation within the climate justice ‎movement. Relationship building is essential to successful youth participation in health policy ‎and climate change as it creates intergenerational learning and cross-cultural engagement. At the ‎same time, both sets of youth also deal with compounding challenges due to contemporary and ‎historical legacies of colonialism and inequality. Yet, tokenism challenges the participatory ‎process as adults profess to value youth perspectives, yet recommendations by youth often do ‎not get incorporated into policies or plans. For organizations and agencies trying to build youth’s ‎capacity, organizations and agencies should look to programs that train youth in advocacy. These ‎programs help build youth’s confidence, increase their optimism for change, and give youth a ‎sense of ownership.‎