From the massive youth protests demanding climate action during COP26, the global climate summit in November, to the young leaders demanding action on civil rights during last month’s Summit for Democracy, it is crystal clear that a wave of youth activism and youth movements is reshaping the global agenda.    

With authoritarianism on the rise, for American Jewish World Service, investing in social movements led by young people is one of the best ways to safeguard democracy and democratic rights. And so, as consciously political grant-makers, we are ramping up our efforts to invest in youth movements — and calling on other funders to do the same. 

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From Nicaragua to Burma to Uganda and everywhere in between, basic freedoms are increasingly imperiled. In fact, according to independent watchdog, Freedom House, nearly 75% of the world’s population live in a country where democratic rights are under assault. Tragically, the global pandemic has not only ravaged the health of millions, but also magnified pre existing global inequities related to wealth, gender, race and age and has been utilized by repressive regimes to trample human rights and quell dissent.  

To shape the future, we believe that we must bolster movements of young people with a democratic, inclusive and just vision for a better tomorrow. Each year, AJWS supports more than 500 organizations across 18 countries. Since 2018, we have made over 900 grants globally to youth activists who are training and organizing groups of young people facing systematic and brutal suppression. And we have seen the power of what young people can achieve when given the support to organize, share their voices and mobilize others.

Y’en a Marre, one of our grantee partners in Senegal, pioneered using hip hop to engage young people in political activism. This group has become a trusted source of information about political and social issues. Its advocacy dates to 2011, when the group played a critical role in mobilizing 300,000 young people to vote in the 2012 election that ousted Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade after he sought an unconstitutional third term. They continue to be a powerful force for youth activism. Just last March, Y’en a Marre organized a wave of youth protests against authoritarianism that swept across Senegal after the arrest of a popular political opposition leader. 

AJWS continues to support Y’en a Marre, which has over the last decade inspired the creation of many other movements on the African continent, including the pan-African group, Afrikki. Launched in 2016, Afrikki serves as a platform where youth-led social movements come together to exchange ideas on how to advocate effectively for social change. AJWS now also supports Afrikki, funding its efforts to mentor new national platforms of youth-led social movements wherever democracy is at risk on the continent.

A world away in Haiti, amidst the turmoil of a presidential assassination, a deadly earthquake and escalating gang violence, AJWS is supporting a small group of young journalists defending democratic rights and tackling political corruption. AyiboPost has been shedding light on complex social and political crises since 2014. The group’s investigative reporting has spurred Haiti’s youth to take to the streets of Port-au-Prince to demand democratic rights as part of a growing social movement.

While this work holds tremendous promise, it also comes with challenges. We have learned from our grantmaking that youth leaders can have difficulty breaking into mainstream movements, and their leadership can be sidelined. And while the energy and commitment of young people is unmatched and they are often willing to take tremendous risks to make change, those risks can lead to early burnout or even the need to abandon movements in the face of tremendous repression. 

As nations around the globe grapple with COVID-19 and confront authoritarianism, donors and grantmakers play a vital role in ensuring that local activists can continue their critical work of fighting for democratic rights and freedoms. To sustain this critical activism, we call on ourselves and our colleagues to:

• Trust and support social movements driven by young people that are demanding democracy;
• Offer flexible, multiyear funds to local grassroots activists to support them in training, building leadership skills and organizing young people through direct funding to youth movements and to allied adult-led organizations willing to mentor and create space for youth;
• Target funding for young women leaders to ensure that girls and women can assume more leadership roles; and
• Direct funding to assist the safety and psychosocial support for young activists so they can be safe and sustain their activism.

Through their demands and their ceaseless organizing, young activists are shaping the future and making history. This is true of famous activists like Uganda’s Vanessa Nakate and Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, just as it is of thousands more who are less famous and whom we must support. It is their generation that will save our planet and hold back threats to democracy. And as grantmakers, we must support them so they can wage and win their fights to create a more just and equitable future. 

Shari Turitz is vice president for programs at AJWS.