{"id":165349,"date":"2026-07-25T22:45:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T22:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.one.org\/africa\/?p=165349"},"modified":"2026-08-19T18:45:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T18:45:31","slug":"youth-advocacy-africa-baseline-survey-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.one.org\/africa\/stories\/youth-advocacy-africa-baseline-survey-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready to Lead, Waiting for the Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Advocacy, learning and the pathway gap for young Africans<\/em><\/strong><\/summary>\n

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We asked 482 young people across six countries what they know about advocacy, what keeps them up at night, and what would make them act. Their answers reframe the problem, and should change where the rest of us focus our time, attention and money.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download the ONE Academy Youth Advocacy Survey Report (2026)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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There is a comfortable story told about young Africans and civic life. That they are disengaged. That they need to be awakened. That the work is persuasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data says something else entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between March and June 2026, ONE surveyed 482 young people aged 14 to 35<\/strong> across Senegal, Kenya, Togo, Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia<\/strong>. We asked what advocacy means to them, which issues they carry, how they already learn, and what would bring them back. Their answers became the evidence base for ONE Academy<\/a><\/strong>, our flagship e-learning platform built to equip one million young Africans by 2030<\/strong> with the knowledge, skills, credentials and pathways to influence policy and drive change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real headline<\/strong> is that this is not a motivation problem. It is an infrastructure problem, and infrastructure is buildable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download the ONE Academy Youth Advocacy Survey Report (2026)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

1. The distance between conviction and action is the whole story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 9 in 10<\/strong> young people said they feel confident speaking up about issues they care about. 83%<\/strong> said they want to learn how to create change in their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

53%<\/strong> have ever actually participated in an advocacy activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sit with that gap. It is not a gap in belief, appetite or courage. It is a gap in access to a first step, a credible entry point, a room, a mentor, or a campaign that will have them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An entire generation is standing at the door with its hand raised, and almost half of them have never <\/em><\/strong>been let in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download the ONE Academy Youth Advocacy Survey Report (2026)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

2. They know what advocacy is<\/em>. They are less sure what it looks like<\/em>.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

64%<\/strong> defined advocacy as speaking up to influence decisions, policies or systems. Solid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when we asked them to identify which real-world actions actually count as advocacy, they got an average of 2.5 out of 5<\/strong> right, landing at 50.2%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pattern we discovered in their responses is the interesting part:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question Asked: Is This Advocacy?<\/th>%age of Youth Who Said Yes<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Starting campaigns or organisations<\/td>72%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Talking to friends about issues<\/td>60%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Participating in community meetings<\/td>48%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Writing to decision-makers<\/td>40%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Sharing information and data<\/td>30%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Advocacy is very clearly recognised when it is loud and visible, but not nearly recognised when it is evidence-based, technical or aimed directly at the people who hold the pen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which means the most transferable, lowest-cost, highest-leverage advocacy skills on earth, like building a case, writing to power, putting a number in front of a minister, are the ones young people are least likely to know they already have permission to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is not a deficit. That is an unopened toolbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download the ONE Academy Youth Advocacy Survey Report (2026)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

3. The issues are economic before they are ideological<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Asked what matters most, young people ranked unemployment<\/strong> first by a clear margin, followed by education<\/strong>, healthcare<\/strong> and youth exclusion from decision-making<\/strong>. Climate change and inequality ranked lower, not because they don’t matter, but because they compete with livelihood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young Africans engage with advocacy through what touches their lives on Tuesday. Not through abstract governance language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any curriculum, campaign or funding strategy that leads with the frame instead of the felt problem will lose this audience in the first thirty seconds. Any that starts with a job, a clinic, a classroom or a seat at the table will hold them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download the ONE Academy Youth Advocacy Survey Report (2026)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

4. There is a translation problem, and we found it in our own material<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Education ranked as the second<\/strong> most important issue to these young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed module on foundational learning reform<\/strong> ranked fifth<\/strong> out of seven, at 46% interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Same subject. Very different reception. The issue was not relevance; it was language. “Foundational learning” is sector vocabulary. It does not sound like the thing they said they cared about, even though it is exactly the thing they said they cared about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the most useful findings in the report, and it generalises well beyond us. If your programme is underperforming with young people, check your framing before you check your thesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download the ONE Academy Youth Advocacy Survey Report (2026)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

5. They are already learning, but just not where institutions are teaching<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Young people reported using online learning platforms multiple times a week (4.2 on a 5-point scale)<\/strong>, with the largest share learning daily<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where:<\/p>\n\n\n\n