"I believe that the more we include the thoughts, ideas and voices of young people in decisions that will impact on their future, the more hope we can carry into that future."
According to Daisy, moving beyond tokenism and into the realm of meaningful and purposeful and supported engagement is actually worth it!
When youth participation recognises the needs of young people in terms of their adolescent development experience it becomes a contributor to their development and all of society benefits! When young people feel excluded, unwanted, unworthy or merely token contributors they will form a view of the world according to that experience. There is no point in us complaining about how young people view and treat the world when we are unwilling to consider our role in how they form negative views.