The Latin American region is going through great challenges in the social, political and educational fields, where young people are increasingly demanding active participation, making their voices, ideas and concerns resonate.
In the face of uncertainty, the answer has been forceful: to unite in spaces of struggle, participation and collective construction to imagine a fairer future. One of these spaces is the Democracy Laboratory, a proposal promoted by the Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE), in which young people from all over the region meet to debate, share experiences and defend the human right to a transformative education.
CLADE is a plural network of civil society organisations, present in 18 countries in the region and with more than 1200 member organisations. Since its inception, it has promoted mobilisation and political advocacy actions for public, free, secular and state-guaranteed education. In 2023, thanks to the funding of Out Loud Education, CLADE strengthened the mechanisms of youth participation, creating safe spaces for dialogue where young people can express their ideas, concerns and proposals, putting their voices at the centre of the regional debate.
Participation in these laboratories of democracy is not only symbolic and does not remain in the meeting. It seeks to transform the way in which decisions are made and how educational policies are built, from a truly inclusive perspective. They are also an act of active hope in the midst of a challenging context, especially for young people.
The data show why this is urgent: according to UNDP Uruguay, only 5% of young people between 14 and 29 years old participate in political organisations, and only 16% are present in decision-making spaces (National Survey of Adolescence and Youth, 2021). This contrasts with the enormous potential for transformation represented by the more than 160 million young people who inhabit our region, 25% of the total population.
Last year, the ECLAC and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID) organised the Youth Ideas Laboratory in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. There, young people from 16 Latin American countries reflected on how to strengthen their impact on public policies, and developed a common roadmap to promote transformations from their own territories.
To conclude, democracy laboratories are not just a methodology, nor a simple gathering of young people who are forgotten. In each meeting, Latin American youth exercise their right to actively participate and claim their place as protagonists in the construction of more just, inclusive and democratic societies. In a continent full of diversity, stories, cultures and contrasts, it is from education where one of the most transformative forces of our time emerges.