Why an Academy?
According to a survey done in 2019 by Youth Lab in partnership with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, young people are not disinterested in politics or current affairs. They are just very dissatisfied with the current leaders and feel that they are not engaged enough. In a survey done by the Socio-Economic Surveys Unit of the Knowledge System Group Human Sciences Research Council on voter participation, it was revealed that only 33% of young people (18-24 years old) were satisfied with the local government and that they were less positive about the performance of local government compared to other age groups. Also, when discussing the electoral system many were confused and did not understand the difference between proportional and direct representation (Youth Manifesto, 2019).