(Illustration courtesy of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
On the shores of the Caribbean, in my hometown of Cartagena, Colombia, I had the honor and great challenge of being the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve as class president at my high school. It was not easy. I and other openly LGBTQ+ peers were frequently mocked and harassed. But I used my position to lead anti-bullying campaigns and promote acceptance and respect. Those experiences in high school strengthened my character and resilience, and ignited a spark that has driven me to defend the rights of LGBTQ+ youth globally.
This summer, I joined hundreds of young advocates from 170 countries in Kigali, Rwanda, for the Women Deliver Conference, one of the world’s largest gatherings dedicated to advancing gender equity. I was honored to be selected as a Women Deliver Young Leader and had the opportunity to share my insights on the challenges Colombia’s LGBTQ+ community is facing with a diverse group of international actors and activists. Together, we explored ideas to break down barriers keeping young LGBTQ+ people away from spaces of power globally.
An unbreakable voice is emerging from today’s youth: the cry of a generation demanding the right to be architects of their future. A generation forged in a storm of change, uncertainty, and innovation that will not let their voices fade into the distance. Young people are not satisfied by simply being heard. They aspire to be the vanguard—titans behind the policies, reforms, and decisions that will build our collective tomorrow. Because young voices, especially those representing people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, are essential to advancing gender equity and building a more just, healthy, and participatory society.
Young activists are demanding climate justice in Africa, driving the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, and achieving reproductive rights in Latin America. They prove that integrating youth into decision-making spheres is not only strategic; it is essential. To ignore this cry is to deny the vitality, resilience, and insight that only they can bring to the table.
Despite their potential power, it pains me that young people around the world continue to feel excluded from decisions that affect their lives and future. Several recent studies reveal that, globally, people under 30 lack trust in their national governments, do not feel heard by politicians, and have lower levels of participation in national elections.
If countries, including the United States, want to move toward a more equitable future for people of diverse genders, it is essential that decision makers, from policy makers to funders to organizational leaders, recognize and activate the potential of youth and LGBTQ+ people.
What measures can decision makers take to transfer power into the hands of young leaders? The answer is not simple, but we need spaces for dialogue and collaboration. Young people must be seen not only as beneficiaries, but as key partners in the design of policies and programs. This involves opening spaces for participation at the highest levels of decision-making, offering training and resources, and above all, listening to and valuing young people’s perspectives.
Learning From Colombia’s Experience
Colombia endured over five decades of armed conflict, a violent period that has only recently dissipated and left deep scars in our society. Building the peace, reparation, and reconciliation process has been a monumental task that government officials recognize cannot be carried out without the true inclusion of all voices.
They know that young people, who represent the future of the country, must be protagonists in this process because their energy, ideas, and fresh perspectives are essential to imagining and building a peaceful country. People with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions have been disproportionately affected by the conflict. Their participation is an act of justice, and they also have a unique perspective on the roots of and solutions to violence. Without their voice and leadership, any efforts at peace, reparation, and reconciliation will be incomplete.
In my work as a young gender equity activist and political scientist, I have witnessed decision makers in my country make a conscious effort to center youth and LGBTQ+ voices. I have also observed how, on many occasions, these voices have been marginalized or ignored.
Analyzing how youth participation has played out in Colombia’s high-stakes context provides three key lessons for decision makers in the United States and around the world:
1. Creating Space Is Not Enough
In 2018, the Colombian government established Youth Councils at all levels of government to encourage the participation of young people in the peacebuilding process. Now, young people between the ages of 14 and 28 vote for youth representatives throughout the country to serve on the councils. These elected youth leaders meet periodically with local or national leaders to give their opinion on political decisions. These bodies are not only meant to involve young people in peacebuilding conversations and agreements, but also strengthen their political participation and capacity to be leaders and promoters of change in their respective communities.
This type of infrastructure can cement young people’s role in the formulation of government policies and programs, and ensure that their concerns, dreams, and perspectives are considered and addressed as a priority. But today, a lack of accountability in the expectations, responsibilities, and outcomes of Colombia’s Youth Councils has led to frustration and disillusionment among young people who have not seen their agendas translated into action. The councils won’t live up to their promise if young, elected leaders don’t receive training and tools to sharpen their contributions or if their ideas lack the long-term backing and resources from local and national government leaders.
For participatory bodies to be successful, their role in government must go beyond consultation alone. The bodies must be designed to guarantee sustained dialogue on actions in the short, medium, and long term, ensuring that government policies and programs advance hand in hand with young people, not behind their backs.
2. Collaborate With Existing Networks at the Local Level
This summer, the city of Cartagena announced that it will begin developing a women-centered public policy aimed at addressing the biggest problems women are facing in the city: gender-based violence, poverty, and low political participation. This marked a big win for the Roundtable for the Social Movement of Women and Feminists of Cartagena and Bolívar, a network of over 20 feminist, women, and activist organizations, that has been a pioneer in promoting gender equity at the city level. For years, it organized powerful grassroots campaigns led by young women, including city-wide demonstrations aimed at advancing transgender rights and ending violence against women in Cartagena, which helped move the city to apply this gender lens to city planning.
Recognizing the local expertise and community relationships this organization of young women has built up over the years, the city is providing government funding for its members to develop the women’s policy in a way that centers the experiences of migrant, costal, rural, Black, and Indigenous women.
This model shifts power into the hands of young women, boosts their participation in policymaking, and gives them the support and resources they need to create social change. Decision makers should actively seek alliances like this with youth and grassroots organizations that are already leading changes in their communities. Furthermore, this example shows how alliances between government and civil society can address systemic gender inequities and respond to the needs of women and people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions.
3. Recognize and Value Lived Experience
The Peace Agreement that Colombia achieved in 2016 is considered innovative worldwide for including a gender perspective in its design and implementation. It not only recognizes that the armed conflict disproportionately impacted women, girls, and LGBTG+ people, but also that they play an important role in forging the path to peace because their lived experience makes them experts on the conflict.
Thanks to the persistent advocacy of female activists who demanded a seat at the table, women participated in an unprecedented way as negotiators, advisors, and gender experts in Colombia’s peace process. Hundreds of women across the country were consulted and a number who were directly affected by the conflicts traveled to give their personal testimonies during the negotiations.
Their participation embedded gender issues into all points of the agenda, proposing concrete measures to support women in the country’s process toward peace. Despite facing structural and systematic violence, women, especially young women, emerged as crucial voices for building peace, clarifying the truth, and ensuring that the peace agreements reflected the needs and realities of those who suffered disproportionately from the horrors of the armed conflict. Today, these young women are pillars in preserving the legacy of peace, ensuring that future generations do not repeat the violence that previous generations faced. Their voices have indelibly marked the peace and reparation process, giving an example to the world of what it means to value and center young people’s lived experience.
Youth from communities that have been historically excluded because of their race and gender identity have unique experiences and perspectives that must be well represented in decision-making processes. This requires decision makers to make a conscious effort to repair relationships with these communities, build trust with them, and follow through on promises to address their needs.
Passing the Microphone
True inclusion is not achieved by simply opening doors and offering seats at the table. The recipe for guaranteeing true inclusion of young people is representation, participation, capacity-building, and accountability.
Representation means that young voices must be present at all levels of decision-making, from planning to implementation. It’s not just about numbers but about ensuring that these voices have real weight in the decisions that are made. Participation implies that young people are not only present but actively involved in the processes, contributing their unique perspectives and experiences. And finally, capacity-building and accountability ensure that young people have the tools and information necessary to participate effectively. By doing so, we build social capital, democratize information, and increase young people’s confidence in spaces of power.
It’s time to pass the microphone.
I invite decision makers across all sectors of society to reflect deeply on the role they need to play to deliver the change that youth and the next generations need today. Passing the microphone is not an act of charity, it is an imperative. This means accepting that young people must be partners, not mere spectators, in this era of change. Together, we can create a future that is more equitable, plural, and just for everyone.
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Read more stories by Mar Márquez.