Towards a more open government for young people

In the past few months, the Philippines has been hounded by corruption issues in infrastructure projects. We have seen how this translates to a matter of life and death.  Weak flood control projects have resulted in loss of lives, especially children. Inefficient construction of classroom for learners has contributed to the worsening the education crisis. This has caused political instability, threatening to divide our nation. 

I had the honor of joining thousands of advocates, ministers, and civil society leaders at the recent Open Government Partnership Global Summit. The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral process that, as its name suggests, aims to make governments more open and inclusive built on the principles of transparency, participation, and accountability.

I felt a familiar tension — the kind that exists between persistent hope and frustration. Hope, because openness promises a world where young people and citizens can have more transparent, participative, and accountable governments. Frustration, because too often, while those principles are said to be upheld and championed, they are very not much practiced meaningfully. Corruption is still rampant and widely felt globally.

A Crisis of Trust and a Chance to Rebuild

Young people today are growing up in a world that has lost faith in its leaders, our institutions, and even our democracy. We have seen corruption, injustice, and climate inaction chip away at our collective trust and around the world. Many of us are willing to burn our institutions to hold power into account because we feel that governments listen only when it is convenient — or when we take to the streets and start burning things.

But I have also seen glimmers of hope and change. At the OGP Summit, I met children who are participating in budgeting in Vitoria-Gastiez, Spain, creating children and youth climate assemblies in Europe. I also encountered a young Mayor in Senegal who is opening more spaces for participation and of course, young Filipinos fighting corruption at all levels. What young people around the world share is the hope that despite the systemic and historic problem of corruption we have around the world, we have a chance to rebuild a better governance system that upholds the rights and ensures the well-being of everyone.

Children and Youth: Rights-holders and Citizens, Not Recipients

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees every child’s right to participate in decisions that affect them. This right has not been realized or worse, treated as symbolic or leveraged for photo opportunities for far too long. Open government offers a path to make it real. Open government should go beyond creating mechanisms but creating a new culture where the principles it aims to uphold are mainstreamed and practiced across our government and society.

When governments open data on education budgets, when they include young people in climate councils, or when they co-create local action plans with student groups, they are not doing us a favor — they are fulfilling a long-promised duty.

Openness must start with the recognition that children and youth are not passive recipients of policy; we are rights-holders, citizens, and partners in governance. This means institutionalizing our participation — through youth councils with real decision-making power, climate assemblies that influence local planning, and accessible digital platforms where young people can track how public money is spent.

Because if information is not accessible to the young, it is not truly public.

Open Climate Governance: Accountability for the Planet

The climate crisis is, at its core, a crisis of governance. Behind every destroyed forest, every ton of carbon dioxide and methane emitted, and every community displaced by floods, there is often a story of secrecy, impunity, or exclusion.

This is why open government is essential for climate justice. When environmental impact assessments are hidden, when carbon emissions are underreported, when communities are not consulted — climate policies lose legitimacy and corruption comes into play. 

In Negros Occidental, we are working on a youth-led monitoring and advocacy that can shape environmental decisions — from resisting coal and palm oil projects to pushing for renewable energy transitions. Our experience shows that openness is not abstract; it is the difference between being silenced and being seen.

From Invitation to Invention

The youth movement for open government is not waiting for invitations anymore. We are inventing our own spaces — creating youth climate hubs, running data-driven campaigns, and building alliances that connect the local to the global.

But governments and institutions, including development partners like UNICEF, have a role to play. They can help transform open government from a policy commitment into a lived experience by:

1. Institutionalizing youth participation in all open government and climate accountability mechanisms — from councils to consultations. 
    
2. Investing in civic education and empowerment, so that openness is meaningful, not performative. 
    
3. Making data child- and youth-friendly, translating complex reports into accessible tools and dashboards. 
    
4. Co-creating safe civic spaces, online and offline, where young advocates can speak truth to power without fear of reprisal. 
    
5. Listening and being accountable to young people. As we are citizens of this society too, we will be inheriting it.

Building a Culture of Participation

At one event on children’s participation, I listened to empowered children (12 years old) in Vitoria-Gastiez, who was involved in participatory budgeting in their city. One of them said that she believes she is empowered because at the beginning, she felt listened to and is being taken seriously at home. 

Perhaps this is also an important lesson. If we want a government that listens to everyone, we should also practice listening more often as a society, especially to voices who are often neglected and not taken seriously - like that of children. This is a reminder to all of us that building a culture of participation among young people doesn’t start in civics class, but at home, where most important decisions are made.

Her story stayed with me. Because in the end, open government is not just a policy framework — it’s a promise and a culture that needs to be practiced. A promise that when our voices are taken seriously and we are involved, trust can be rebuilt. A promise that when young people are heard, democracy is renewed and the government is being strengthened.

Joshua Villalobos is a youth climate activist, the Secretary-General of Negrosanon Initiative for Climate and the Environment, and a UNICEF Young Advocate for Climate and Environmental Justice. He recently attended the Open Government Partnership Global Summit 2025 in Vitoria-Gastiez, Spain.