In Breda, a lot is already happening in the field of youth participation. However, in practice it turned out that initiatives often exist separately from each other. The Democracy Reloading trajectory gave the municipality the opportunity to gain better insight into this. Youth Project Leader Miriam Rijvers describes the trajectory as a journey of discovery that led to new insights, more connection, and a compass for the future.
The search
What started as an ambition to make youth participation visible grew into a journey of discovery. “Along the way, it became clear that separate initiatives within the organisation are not enough,” Miriam explains. “The exploration of existing initiatives at the start of the trajectory showed that there was fragmentation: projects without cohesion between domains and departments. There was a lack of overarching direction, which made collaboration and support difficult to achieve.”
“I also saw that much policy is still being developed without directly involving young people. Not because colleagues do not want to, but because it is often unclear where to begin. Sometimes a network partner is asked to present something to young people, but without follow-up this quickly fades and young people drop out. This creates distance, while we are actually striving for sustainable connection.”
From doubt to insight
Halfway through the trajectory, doubts arose. “I asked myself: where is this going? What will this ultimately deliver? It was precisely this uncertainty that created space for new ideas. We realised that change does not start with writing plans, but with asking questions. By opening up the conversation, space for collaboration and innovation emerged.”
“The coaching sessions within Democracy Reloading helped me and the colleagues involved to create focus. This led to municipality-wide creative working sessions and conversations with employees from different domains. By asking what teams need and which elements in their current way of working are already effective, energy and new connections emerged.”
Key insights
Three guiding insights emerged from the working sessions:
Ownership is crucial
“Truly involving young people only works if someone takes responsibility for the process and safeguards the connection. Without ownership, youth participation gets stuck in isolated actions. That responsibility can lie with a youth participation coordinator, who brings together young people, internal departments, and partners. Ideally, a young person fulfils this role themselves, so that their perspective leads and the collaboration remains authentic.”
Knowledge sharing strengthens collaboration
“A central place for knowledge sharing is indispensable. A knowledge base in which experiences, tools, and inspiring examples come together stimulates learning and collaboration, both within the organisation and with partners.”
Connection is the key to impact
“Separate initiatives do not work. By connecting departments and areas of expertise, coherence emerges, space for joint learning processes is created, and knowledge is used more effectively. In this way, initiatives better align with the complexity of societal issues.”
Lessons learned
“The trajectory showed me that change takes time and starts with an open attitude. Not by imposing plans, but by listening, asking questions, and facilitating. It requires a process in which there is room for dialogue and collaboration.” Creative working sessions and the use of imagery proved to be powerful tools to make abstract ideas concrete and to jointly give direction. “By imagining and experimenting together, energy is created and a shared understanding of what is possible emerges.”
The trajectory showed that youth participation does not arise automatically. It requires conscious choices and a culture in which the perspective of young people is taken seriously.