The South African Youth Manifesto is a book project aligned with Youth Lab’s core values: participation, inclusion and accountability. During the 2014 and 2016 elections, Youth Lab’s election projects focused on using our convening power to bring political parties into direct contact with young people. This, to our minds, provided young people with a unique and valuable opportunity to hear firsthand what parties had to offer them in their manifestos.

While having the ear of political parties is good, we quickly learned from those interventions that young people deserve more than the opportunity to be passive receivers of manifesto promises; they deserve the opportunity to tell politicians what they, as the largest and most important population group in the country, want from their elected leaders. Youth Lab firmly believes the youth can set the agenda rather than simply respond to it, and that they must beat the decision-making table.

The South African Youth Manifesto is a mandate from young people to politicians, giving parties valuable insights into the priorities, vision, interventions and youth role as directly articulated by youth. It is a model that should guide parties toward an elective promise and governance offering that takes South Africa into its future.

#SAYouthManifesto is a movement that brings together the voices of young South Africans, amplifying their needs and shining a light on their collective potential. This manifesto is a tool that young South Africans can use to influence politics, shape policy and sharpen post-election accountability.

In compiling this manifesto, Youth Lab engaged with young people from all South African provinces. From rural Mpumalanga to the townships of the Western Cape, The South African Youth Manifesto canvases and integrates the views of young people - potential voters, teaching them about the electoral system while helping them practise policy making.

This manifesto intentionally does four important things:

1. Provides an analysis of South African social and political issues as prioritised by youth;

2. Puts forward a vision of the South Africa youth want;

3. Proposes practical interventions to realise that vision and

4. Puts forward suggestions for the roles that young people can play in these interventions.

This manifesto demonstrates that if asked, young people know what they want and consider themselves capable contributors to the development of South Africa. Young South Africans have accepted the challenge to set the agenda for elections and democracy as a whole.