An international education consulting firm that empowers young people, Ecorys and Partnership Bureau, has urged communities to allow adolescents to participate meaningfully in decisions that shape their cities.
The firm said urban planning had to reflect the needs and experiences of young people because adolescents were an essential part of every thriving society.
The call was made in Accra last Friday during a dialogue at the Global Learning Forum 2026 as part of its Healthy Cities for Adolescents (HCA) programme funded by Fondation Botnar.
Forum
The forum brought together about 150 participants, including adolescent leaders, policymakers, practitioners, civil society groups and researchers.
Adolescents from Ghana, Senegal, Ecuador, Colombia, India and Vietnam set the agenda, shared their daily realities in cities and worked with adults to design ideas for healthier urban spaces.
The forum also focused on understanding how urban environments affect adolescent health, well-being and opportunities.
The adolescents led interactive sessions where they shared their everyday experiences in their cities, and shared ideas for adolescent-friendly urban environments.
Participants also discussed education and skills, meaningful participation, digital technologies and the broader concept of healthy cities.
The adolescents also shared concerns about limited access to decision-making platforms, quality public spaces and digital tools.
The organisers said the shared insights from the dialogue would inform future programmes and policy engagements aimed at building cities that responded to the needs of adolescents.
Rationale
In an interview with the Daily Graphic after the forum, the Team Leader of the HCA programme, Sarah Macmillan, said more than half of the world’s adolescents lived in urban areas, but remained excluded from decision-making processes that shaped their communities.
This reality, she said, made the programme crucial because it would help adolescents understand how to influence decisions in society.
“A big focus of this programme has been about trying to educate young people to realise they have a voice and to understand the spaces where they can really raise that voice to influence decisions and shape their cities,” she said.
Progress
For her part, the Programme Director of HCA, Kathryn Scurfield, explained that the initiative had delivered support through grants to projects in different countries across continents.
She said the programme had operated in Ecuador, Colombia, India, Vietnam, Asia and in Ghana through projects in Ho and Sunyani.
“All those projects are delivering activities to empower youth across a number of different areas, including sexual and reproductive health, nutrition, mental health, but also in other important aspects of the city,” she said.
Ms Scurfield also said the projects had addressed urban space revitalisation, road safety, education and digital skills, while working across equity and inclusion areas.
“Adolescents and young people are coming together to advocate for their rights, determine what they need in their cities, and then go to local municipalities and assemblies to talk about those issues and say, ‘this is what we need,’” she said.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh