Young People Taking the Lead: Democracy Now and for the Future
Youth Music for Peace, Freedom and Democracy is putting young people at the centre of the democratic dialogue between Ukraine and Norway.
The international youth project Youth Music for Peace, Freedom and Democracy is moving into an important new phase. Young people from Gymnasium No. 74 in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, and Bærum Youth Council in Norway are taking responsibility for completing the project’s democracy report, Democracy Now and for the Future.
The report is being developed by young people, for young people – with the ambition of creating a meaningful contribution to the democratic dialogue in both countries.
Young people setting the agenda
The youth participants have been given a central role in deciding what issues should be explored and which voices should be heard. Their work goes beyond simply discussing democracy among themselves.
They have invited professional institutions and organisations to contribute knowledge and perspectives to the report. They have also contacted Ukrainian and Norwegian politicians, asking them to engage in dialogue with young people about the challenges and opportunities facing democracy today and in the future.
This approach gives the young participants an opportunity to experience democracy in practice: asking questions, seeking information, listening to different perspectives and bringing knowledge together before developing their own recommendations.
A positive response from Ukraine
An important step forward came when the young people received a positive response from the Directorate for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration under the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
The Directorate has expressed its willingness to enter into dialogue with the young participants and contribute relevant knowledge to their work on the democracy report.
For the young people from Kryvyi Rih, this is particularly significant. Their city has experienced the consequences of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, while at the same time young people continue their education and participate in building the future of their country.
The dialogue with Ukrainian authorities will allow the youth project to learn more about democratic development, European and Euro-Atlantic cooperation and the role of young people in Ukraine’s future.
Norway and Ukraine – learning from each other
The report is intended to look at democracy from both a Norwegian and Ukrainian perspective.
Among the issues the young people are exploring are youth participation, human rights and dignity, transparency and the fight against corruption, freedom of expression and media, peace and resilience, education, culture and the role of music in society.
The purpose is not to produce an academic report written by adults about young people. The goal is to create a document in which young people themselves identify questions, gather knowledge and formulate recommendations.
This makes the process just as important as the final report.
Waiting for dialogue with Norwegian politicians
The youth group has also written to Norwegian political parties represented in the Storting, inviting them to contribute to the democratic dialogue.
The young participants are still waiting for responses from the Norwegian parliamentary parties.
Their message is straightforward: young people want to be heard – but they also want to understand.
By inviting politicians and professional institutions into dialogue, the youth participants are seeking knowledge that can help them develop informed recommendations for the future.
Photo: stortinget.no
From music to democracy
Music is the starting point for the wider project.
Young musicians from Ukraine and Norway are working together across borders, using music as a common language and as a way of building friendships, trust and understanding.
But the project reaches beyond the concert stage.
Through the democracy report, the young participants are exploring how the values expressed in the project – peace, freedom, democracy, human rights and European cooperation – can be strengthened in practice.
The combination of music, dialogue and democratic participation is at the heart of Youth Music for Peace, Freedom and Democracy.
A report created by the next generation
The completed report, Democracy Now and for the Future, is intended to be presented as part of the Youth Peace Conference in Oslo on 19 May 2027.
The young participants hope that their work will provide useful perspectives for politicians, authorities, organisations and other decision-makers in both Norway and Ukraine.
Most importantly, they want the report to demonstrate that young people are not simply the future of democracy.
They are participants in democracy today.
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