Nurturing New Spaces for Social Change: Conversation Notes
In October, the dialogue on “Nurturing New Spaces for Social Change” revealed crucial insights about what enables genuine transformation across generations. From the foundational importance of trusting relationships to the hidden mental health crisis among young activists, the conversation challenged our assumptions about age, wisdom, and power.
This summary captures the key themes that emerged from this conversation. It sets the scene for Part 2 of this conversation which will take place on November 26th, 2024.
You can read summary highlights below and register for November’s conversation here.
Starting with Human Connection
Ila Malhotra Gregory of Youth by Youth opened her contribution by emphasising that meaningful change happens “at the speed of trust.” “The value of starting with relationships is so simple and yet so overlooked. It’s about getting to know one another beyond your professional shell, beyond the roles you play in life – as human being to human being”. Youth by Youth demonstrates what is possible when relationship-building is prioritised in their “weavership” fellowship programme. Partnering with organisations in ways that deliberately move beyond traditional internship models and hierarchies to create something more transformative.
Rethinking Age and Wisdom
The conversation highlighted how “youth” itself is a fluid concept, varying by geography, resources, and opportunity. Shaun McInerney challenged us to “disrupt the assumption that chronological age is a mark of maturity.” Drawing on decades of experience in education, he noted: “I’ve worked with such incredible young people that just confound our set hierarchies around age and maturity.” The key insight? “Innovation and transformation happen at the speed of trust, but also at the speed of maturity. We’ve got a responsibility to be really intentional about how we can mature as adults, and how we can do that together in relationship with young people.”
The Hidden Mental Health Crisis
A sobering perspective came from Joe Elborn, who revealed the depth of young people’s mental health struggles. “I sat down with a youth climate activist a few weeks ago, and she hadn’t slept in something like two months. You wouldn’t see that – she’s articulate, multilingual, super amazing human being. But when you know her, it’s clear.”
This crisis is multifaceted – exacerbated by social media but also including climate anxiety, future uncertainty, and what Elborn calls “hyper uncertainty.” Young people are “screaming about this,” he notes, yet it hasn’t received the resonance it deserves. This “time bomb” threatens to “play through in all sorts of weird ways if we don’t do something about it.”
Swimming in Different Waters
Indra Adnan observed that young people today “swim in different waters” than previous generations – learning constantly through digital connection rather than traditional institutions. They have “an intelligence forged through being in incredibly diverse spaces,” yet often lack containers to channel this into sustained change.
Joan Diamond outlined four stages of youth engagement that could help us understand this journey – from seekers understanding issues, to warriors doing frontline work, to leaders providing vision, and finally to elders. Youth by Youth builds on this framework, creating what Ila calls “a lifelong learning community” where intergenerational work isn’t just part of what they do – it’s core to their approach.
Moving Beyond Tokenism in Future-Making
Nick Larsen from the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies highlighted a critical gap between rhetoric and reality in youth engagement. While institutions have “become very good at packaging the language around youth involvement – youth boards, mentorships and so forth,” he noted that “very little moves beyond tokenism.”
Nicklas’s work on futures literacy reveals how young people’s informal foresight, “driven less by power or capital, but more by participation and imperatives for marginalised groups,” often gets overlooked. As he explained, “We can’t rely on prediction and planning anymore. We need competencies that allow us to fare in uncertainty and complexity.” This requires moving beyond reproductive education that simply memorises the past toward “more open speculative spaces” that can help us navigate an uncertain future.
Creating New Containers
The dialogue revealed a common theme across participants – the need for new “containers” that support genuine partnership across generations. As Joan Diamond noted, “We need something beyond what is happening now for the millions who want to see change. Current approaches often devolve into the good guys fighting the good guys rather than creating genuine transformation.
Indra Adnan introduced the concept of “cosmo-local” – maintaining global connections while rebuilding local community. This approach recognises that while technology has democratised information, we must create containers for genuine human relationship and power-building.
Shaun McInerney proposed that genuine co-leadership requires “radical authenticity”. The challenge is creating spaces that honour both this authenticity and the time needed to build real trust and partnership.
Jane Nash, a participant in the dialogue, emphasised that young people “have an enormous need to be seen and heard right where they are right now and valued as they are right now.” If we can’t do this, “they could easily infer that we don’t trust them, that we don’t think they have anything to offer.”
The conversation continues on November 26th! Join us to explore
- Creating containers that support intergenerational partnerships
- Moving beyond polarised activist approaches or tokenistic youth engagement to genuine co-creation
- Supporting mental health while fostering agency
- Building trust across digital and physical spaces
- Nurturing maturity at all ages
Register for the Zoom link here.
This blog post captures key themes from our dialogue featuring Ila Malhotra Gregory, Indra Adnan, Shaun McInerney, Joan Diamond, Nicklas Larsen and others exploring what lies “beyond activism” in today’s world.
______________________________________________________________________
