Chairperson, hon members, guests and fellow South Africans, my contribution to this debate is to focus on the importance of Parliament's interaction with civil society by looking at particular sectors such as the youth and women. Increasing the opportunities for civil society organisations to interact with Parliament and improving Parliament's willingness to consult with those organisations are important ways to enhance MPs' ability to represent their constituencies and to ensure that national planning and budgeting reflect the needs of the people.
Nongovernmental organisations often play a critical role in advocating changes in law, in policy, in procedures and administrative rules. NGOs bring the stories of the individuals they serve to the process. These stories form an important part of the evidence needed to convince policy- makers of the changes that are needed.
The importance of interacting with civil society, especially with women and youth, is so that, together, we can realise our constitutional objectives of justifiable social and economic rights. Women and youth equally want to benefit from a clean and healthy environment, from access to land, from access to housing, from an end to arbitrary evictions and from access to sufficient water, health care and education.
Today we celebrate International Women's Day, the story of ordinary women as makers of history. It is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a strike against men in order to end a war. During the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for liberty, equality and fraternity marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.
The ANC has a long history of engagement with civil society - the Freedom Charter, the RDP, to name but a few.
In South Africa, social and economic rights are enshrined in the Constitution and play an important role in motivating and sustaining political participation. Among the many challenges facing the new South Africa is the desire to develop a polity that represents and engages with the aspirations and needs of its entire people. The ANC's strategy and tactics remind us of the importance of building social cohesion and of the values of a caring society. This provides a practical role for the involvement of women and youth in civil society. Democracy requires a pluralistic approach that can take into account the views of all people. Inclusiveness necessarily requires the views of women and youth.
The incorporation of youth concerns by means of youth mainstreaming and youth participation are emerging fields in a range of areas affecting development and governance and includes work undertaken by legislators and parliaments around the world. Progress in this regard, however, is uneven and not always easy to assess.
It is important to recognise that a number of factors influence the level and quality of public participation of youth with the legislature. It should not, for example, be assumed that a low level of education or socioeconomic status translates into an inability to participate. The youth is not a homogenous entity and additional efforts should be made to secure the participation of those subgroups that can be described as more marginalised than others. This underscores the importance of a proactive approach to developing youth-public participation.
Youth participation determines the extent to which young people can influence processes and projects undertaken by any particular institution. Youth participation entails the involvement of young people at all stages, from the identification of needs to the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policy and programmes.
There are core benefits of youth participation and they are identifiable. In South Africa's harsh socioeconomic climate, where opportunities for South Africa's youth remain limited, parliamentarians should be wary of the cost of not incorporating youth concerns into their work and of excluding their participation from the process. The need to augment outreach and public participation is recognised in a number of domestic and international parliamentary programmes. In addition, many parliaments run educational programmes intended to expose students to political and parliamentary processes.
Consultation and participation are valuable yet distinct activities. Consultation entails directly asking either women or youth, whichever is the case, about their views. Participation refers to the extent of women's and youth's involvement in decision-making. Consultation may be undertaken without regard to participation but may equally be accompanied by efforts to promote involvement in the decision-making process.
The importance of consultation on youth and gender itself is self-evident. Engagement by Parliament resuscitates citizens' involvement and leads to greater participatory democracy.