Young French speakers speak up!

On December 22, 2020, the results of “Parole aux Jeunes” (Let the young speak), a consultation about the future of Francophonie (French-speaking world) to which 10,000 young people from 83 Member States of Francophonie participated, were published and showed about 75,000 contributions. Three clear priorities stood out from their aspirations: find a job, enjoy quality education, and live in a healthy environment.

For its 50^th anniversary, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF, International Organisation of La Francophonie) has invited young people aged from 15 to 35 to “build together the future of Francophonie”. During several months, from May to July 2020, thousands of young French speakers “spoke, argued, shared, imagines and expressed their concerns and their reality, but also their aspirations for the Francophonie of tomorrow”.

An unprecedented space for discussion

According to the organisers of this major consultation, and as the Secretary General of the Francophonie wrote in her presentation of the report, this survey proved to be “an unprecedented dialogue, not only between young people and the Francophonie, but also between young French-speakers from different spaces and different realities”. The OIF is pleased to have created “a true momentum” among the young, and believes that “the results of this dialogue speak for themselves”. Indeed, such results help “understand better the roots of French-speaking identity, and highlight the present and future needs of young people”.

Diversity of origins and profile of respondents

The consultation brought together exactly 10,452 young French-speakers who contributed to the platform and/or took part in virtual or face-to-face workshops organised in parallel. The OIF believes that the participants thus represented “the diversity of French-speaking youth” since all areas of the Francophonie were included. Respondents include a majority of young Africans (51% in total), but also 25% young Europeans and 7% young people from the American continent. Activity profiles and age groups are also well represented. The 19–25-year-olds responded in the majority (40%), while 53% of respondents said they were students and 29% were involved in a professional activity. Regarding gender parity, it has been achieved: 51% of young women took part in the consultation.

Belonging to the Francophonie

One of the objectives of the consultation was to qualify young people’s sense of belonging to the Francophonie. The results are positive, in that nearly 4 out of 5 young people “feel Francophone”. On a scale of 1 to 10, young people rate it at 7.8 on average. The “bases of belonging” to the French-speaking world include of course the French language, belonging to a network (of studies and training in particular), but also sharing a culture, sharing values and defending causes such as democracy, equality, peace and the preservation of the environment, and also the Francophonie “as an art of living and thinking”!

Expectations of young French-speakers

The OIF explained that the second objective of the consultation is to collect “the expectations of young people in order to build the Francophonie of the future on the basis of their renewed vision”. In this respect, young French-speaking people were questioned about their priorities and aspirations, as well as their projections for the future. The major priorities of young people are clearly defined: employment, education, the environment and health come first. More specifically, the OIF insists that “today, young people’s priorities are clear: to have a job, to benefit from quality education, to live in a healthy environment and to have access to a quality health system”. Other, slightly less pragmatic aspirations are also emerging, such as a “more egalitarian and just world” or other general values such as respect, humanism and tolerance etc.