The Citizen Panel for Youth in Wallonia (Panel citoyen sur les jeunes en Wallonie) covered issues relevant to youth—such as employment, mobility, housing, training, sustainable development, and international openness—for 2025 to 2045, over four meetings held in March 2018.
Problems and Purpose
The Citizen Panel for Youth in Wallonia deliberated on the following questions, as developed by a committee of experts, academics, and citizens:
- How can public and private actors better take into account the needs of the young (in employment, mobility, housing, training, sustainable development, and international openness)?
- How to prevent the young from job insecurity after their studies;
- What are the traditional norms that should be adapted to current ways of life, in order to respond to youth aspirations?
Background History and Context
Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities
The deliberative process was organized by the Parliament of Wallonia.
Participant Recruitment and Selection
The recruitment process was as follows. First was a survey among 1000 Walloon citizens on the topic. Second was a qualitative study (involving a 20-minute movie) reflecting the opinion of 40 Walloons (gender-balanced). Third, among the 1000 respondents, 30 were selected based on socio-demographics characteristics (representative sample based on age, gender, occupation, social status, and geographical origins). Half of the panel was composed of young people (18-30).
Methods and Tools Used
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
The panel produced a « déclaration consensus » (25 pages including appendices). In this document, the panel participants develop 22 actions to be implemented, across 5 “strategic axes”: solidarity between generations; implementation of a safe environment in which young people can innovate, learn etc.; co-decision making with the young; simplification and accessibility of the institutional/political structure; and development of international openness and opportunities. The « déclaration consensus» includes several pages reflecting upon the organization and principles (representation, participation etc.) of the panel itself, as well as, in the appendices, the panelists’ opinions about the experience.
In regard to how the outcome has been taken into consideration by representative institutions (government and parliament), on April 21st, 2018, the head of the Walloon government declared that they would read the panel report, and would try to identify ways to pragmatically address the conclusions of the report. Participants in the deliberation had the opportunity to discuss the process by itself, its philosophy, and the organization of the meetings. Some representatives from parliamentary groups (Godfriaux, Knaepen, Lambelin, Ryckmanset, Warzée-Caverenne) had the opportunity to exchange with members of the panel, and to present some avenues for policy in order to address the conclusions mentioned in the « déclaration consensus» (the final document produced by the mini-publics). The President of the Parliament invited the panel members to assess, one year after the panel, the extent to which the government will have answered the “declaration consensus”. He indicated that the declaration would be sent to all other parliaments in the country.
Analysis and Lessons Learned
See Also
References
External Links
Notes
This entry is based on the POLITICIZE dataset. More information can be found at the following links:
- Paulis, Emilien; Pilet, Jean-Benoit; Panel, Sophie; Vittori, Davide; Close, Caroline, 2020, "POLITICIZE Dataset", https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/Z7X6GT, Harvard Dataverse, V1
- Pilet J-B, Paulis E, Panel S.,Vitori D & Close C. 202X The POLITICIZE Dataset: an inventory of Deliberative Mini-Publics (DMPs) in Europe. European Political Science.