Peru
Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima
15th.
Winner
Lima Joven Acciona (Action of Youth in Lima) is an original programme of the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima that seeks to promote political and citizen participation and dialogue with the city's youth, for the benefit of their communities, hand in hand with the local government and various strategic allies. This experience won the 15th IOPD Award in 2021.
Lima Joven Acciona generates spaces that allow the youth of Lima to actively participate. For this reason, four institutional spaces for participation have been created:
(i) The Network of Young Leaders of Metropolitan Lima that promotes the joint work of unorganized youth to strengthen their leadership and act in favor of their community.
(ii) The Metropolitan Network for Youth Organizations is the first virtual platform in Metropolitan Lima designed exclusively for youth organizations. Through it, it is intended to generate contact networks and collaborative work among youth organizations in Lima, as well as with public and private institutions and citizens.
(iii) The District Council of Youth Participation of Lima Cercado is a space of representation of the youth of the district of Lima Cercado. It is made up of thirteen youth organizations of the district, who are called upon to propose and develop projects and solutions for the promotion of youth participation in the district.
(iv) The Metropolitan System for the Promotion and Management of Youth Policies, created by Ordinance No. 462, is a space for coordination between public and private institutions and youth to create public policies in favor of young people in Lima.
The Lima Joven Acciona program brought together different actors from civil society, the private sector and the public sector:
Youth organizations: At the beginning of the program, there was no updated local government database on youth organizations. Currently, 300 organizations have been identified. Also, 108 community and social projects planned and developed by youth organizations have been developed.
District governments of Lima: Coordination with the 42 districts of Metropolitan Lima has been fundamental in the development of Lima Joven Acciona. The activation of the Metropolitan System for the Promotion and Management of Youth Policies involved promoting the participation of Lima's district municipalities to generate the first local public youth policy, the Metropolitan Youth Strategy.
Private sector actors: The development of the territorial interventions of the youth that are part of the program have been supported by various private institutions that, through sponsorship and support in materials, allowed them to intervene in public spaces, in their universities and other public and community spaces.
In 2019, it was identified that the active citizen participation of young people in local development processes involving the Metropolitan Government was practically non-existent. As an example of this, only two youth organisations had been identified with which the municipality's Youth Sub-management had articulated actions only for youth volunteering.
In response to this problem, the Lima Joven Acciona programme was designed and implemented, based on the implementation of four strategies. In this way, the programme helps young people in Lima to develop leadership, organisational and public speaking skills. It also motivates them to be able to express their opinions and proposals for solutions, to plan and develop projects and social interventions for the benefit of their communities, as well as to participate in consultation spaces that allow for the sustainability of their actions.
Lima Joven Acciona has trained 3,000 young people in the city in leadership, organisation and public speaking, identified 300 youth organisations in Metropolitan Lima with which initiatives are being coordinated, involved 2,253 young people in dialogue and debate, established 56 strategic alliances with public and private institutions to achieve objectives, and promoted the design and implementation of 108 community and social projects with organised and unorganised young people.
In addition, with the articulated work of Lima's youth, four institutional spaces for youth citizen participation have been created:
(i) The Lima Young Leaders Network for the creation of initiatives by independent young people.
(ii) The Metropolitan Network for Youth Organisations to make visible and generate work networks between youth organisations in the city.
(iii) The District Council for Youth Participation of Lima Cercado, which represents the various youth organisations in the district of Lima Cercado.
(iv) The Metropolitan System for the Promotion and Management of Youth Policies was reactivated.
Thanks to these platforms, the sustainability of youth interventions in their community is guaranteed, regardless of the metropolitan municipal government in power, as each of these spaces is backed by normative documents.
Interview with Tania Peña - Deputy Manager of Youth Organizations, Metropolitan Municipality of Lima about the Lima Joven Acciona experience (In Spanish)
Sources
"It is very innovative to frame the experience with the generational, participatory and interdisciplinary aspect. The experience an- swers all the questions on how to innovate for inclusion in cities. There is a good use of memory aids to facilitate transferability. However, it is not easy to understand how stakeholders have contributed."
"The proposal stands out for the involvement of young people in local decisions. It is also remarkable for building the capacity of action and initiative of youth; for the creation of institutional spaces for participation and for the inclusion of generational, partic- ipatory and interdisciplinary approaches."
"The experience has encouraged youth participation in Lima through a strong and comprehensive participatory structure. It is transferable and feasible. It implies a high degree of coordination and multi-sectoral co-responsibility. Regarding evaluation, it will be important to assess the degree of youth impact on local government public decisions."
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