My Voice, My Vote Launch

Leadership building, civic engagement and electoral participation have been the political buzz phrases of the last few decades. The strong emphasis on these actions comes from the fact that younger generations aren’t as politically engaged as their counterparts in the 60s and 70s used to be. Voter turn-out is still very low in the country, especially for young people. With elections approaching in May for the European Parliament and the General Election in 2015, the race is on to raise awareness on the importance of voting and diminish the apathy that today’s youth feels towards politics.

UpRising, a youth development organisation, recently launched a programme called ‘My Voice, My Vote,’ aimed at teaching graduates of the National Citizenship Service Programme about democratic processes, social action, and campaigning. The goal of this programme is to get young people to campaign and convince their peers about the importance of voting for a functioning, coherent democracy.

The launch took place in Liverpool and OBV Graduate, Councillor Nathalie Nicholas, attended the launch. Describing the programme she said:

It is about raising interest in campaigning and voting, and becoming a catalyst for social change.”

Nicholas herself, participated on OBV’s Councillor Shadowing Scheme aimed at reducing the lack of representation in local government and thus understands the impact that these programmes have on making people aware of the potential they have as community leaders. She believes that without the support of OBV’s shadowing scheme she would have never become involved in civic life, because she didn’t really understand it. However, after the programme she was equipped with the tools she needed to become an active member of her community, and she did exactly this.

Both programmes are alike because they both want the same thing in terms of empowering and mobilising people for social action,”

Nicholas commented. Like the shadowing scheme, ‘My Voice, My Vote’ provides mentorship for people who want to grow as community activists. This is extremely important because, just like Nicholas needed training before she felt comfortable engaging with her community, young people also need guidance on how to become activists and make a difference this way.

Nicholas explained that when people are politically active:

It is sending a message to politicians that our vote counts, our voice counts and that they are going to have to stand up and take notice,”

This is something young people in particular need to understand, because our voice counts and exercising our right to vote will enhance our democracy by forcing it to take our needs into account. However, if we don’t vote, we will effectively be giving the government a mandate to neglect the issues that affect us.

Angelica Encinales