Young people are innovative frontrunners — both at Folkemødet and in your company

Young people are the future bearers of democracy and values in our society. The question is, does our current system actually provide room to put young people in the driving seat when it comes to ensuring the health and wellbeing of the future?
‍

Through youth-driven processes before and during the People's Meeting, we hope to help disrupt the political self-perception of the health solutions of the future and show ways to new forms of partnership. Involving young people can contribute to innovative perspectives both about societal challenges, but also as creative disruptions in your business. In this article you can read about young people as drivers of our common health challenges and how young people can be specifically invited in through ethnographic and idea-developing methods in your company. Read the full article on Børsen Ledelse or download it as a PDF below.
‍

Young people as drivers of future health

The People's Meeting on Bornholm is approaching — and we at Resonans are in full swing with preparations together with our 10 co-organizers. We take as a basis the Call for Danish Health and the 12 recommendations developed at last year's People's Meeting in Samskapningsarenaen. Again this year we want to disrupt the familiar popular meeting format, characterized by classic panel debates a 45 minutes with 5-6 known and established “positions of power”, in which the involvement of the participants of the tent is limited to a few questions at the end.
‍

This year, the People's Meeting has focused on the UN's Global Goals — and in the Co-creation Arena tent we have focused on co-creation of well-being and health (goal 3), including through partnerships (goal 17). Both internationally and nationally, the health challenge is great. If we look back at the national health measure from last year, the optimism wasn't great. The figures showed that we are healthily challenged by growing overweight, increasing mental health challenges and social inequality in health.
‍

The government has been pushing for health reform, and health is undoubtedly an important theme -- including in the upcoming election campaign. In this context, we see a need for politicians, professionals, regions, ministries, municipalities, foundations and interest organizations to take the big listening notes and look towards an important target group — Danish youth. Together with the youth organizations GAME, IMCC and Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen (SDCC), we therefore focus on getting the young generation to challenge our habitual thinking about health. We will ask a wide range of Danish young people to come up with their perspectives on how we make Danish society even healthier under the theme “Young people create Denmark's health”

“Every day, young people from all corners of Danish society contribute to creating innovative everyday solutions to global challenges. It is obvious that it is young people who hold the future in their hands, and therefore it is quite obvious that it is young people who must also help shape it.” — Laura Bendix Pedersen, Project Coordinator, GAME

Young people's votes count

Young people, with their strong current commitment to the climate agenda, are showing how quickly they can be mobilized and raise awareness for an agenda. Understandably, a future-oriented theme such as climate is an agenda in which young people have a penetrating voice. But today's young people have opinions on the SDGs and should not only be heard and involved in the agendas where they themselves shout the loudest.
‍

Young people are the future bearers of democracy and values in our society. The question is, does our current system actually provide room to put young people in the driving seat when it comes to ensuring the health and wellbeing of the future? We think there is room for improvement.

“It is time for young people to be involved in public debate in a meaningful way. Not for the sake of the young, but for the sake of everyone. We live in a world where development is so fast that we need all the help we can get. To exclude a large population solely because of their age is indefensible. Especially when it is this group that has to bear the burden for the future of the decisions taken today.” — Julie Lauritzen, Chair, IMCC

Young people as part of the solution

It is the life world and understandings of young people that must be the starting point for dialogue and solutions in the tent. They are the experts on the health of the future. Ahead of the workshop, 100 young people will digitally answer various questions about health: What are the most important health challenges and what impact does it have in their lives?
‍

On the day itself, 30 young people are invited to participate in a workshop in the co-creation tent. Participants will be widely represented with representatives from 10 different interest and youth organizations. In the process leading up to and during the People's Meeting, in line with the cross-cutting principle of the UN Global Goal “leaving no one behind”, we will involve as wide a group of young people as possible, so that we ensure that young people who experience challenges in relation to well-being and health in everyday life are also heard.

“Young people have lots of ideas and courage to promote health at school, in the family and in general in society. If we take advantage of that potential, then we have a much better base for developing sustainable solutions. Young people must therefore be seen as part of the solution to today's health problems — and not just as part of the problem.” — Bjarne Bruun Jensen, Professor, SDCC

How can involving young people be used in your business?

If we don't see you at Folkemødet — we hope that you can still be inspired to involve young people in new ways in your organisation. In addition to the climate and health agenda, young people are incredibly strong in the digital field and in relation to new forms of social communities. For example, young people can contribute to:
‍

• That you get honest and disturbing images of reality from the outside — young people are often super users of certain types of products and services.
• Creative concept development through idea development processes and problem solving — young people's “filters” of “carer” take up less space, while their gaze on potentials and dreams fills more.
  ‍

Read about concrete steps to get started with involving young people in the article.

‍

This article has been written in a collaboration between Resonance, IMCC, SDCC and GAME. The youth event at Folkemødet will take place on Thursday 13 June at 2.30-16.30 in the tent Samskapelskarenaen.
‍

Read the article online

Download the article as PDF