80 \ Global Youth Development Index and Report 2016 Box 3.3 Commonwealth Youth Council The Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC) is the official representative voice of the nearly 640 million young people in the Commonwealth. The CYC was established in 2013 as an initiative of the Commonwealth Secretariat, and was endorsed by Commonwealth Heads of Government at their biennial summit in that year as an ‘autonomous, youth-led’ organisation. Led by a nine-member elected executive committee, the CYC acts as a coalition of national youth councils and other youth-led civil society and private sector bodies from across the 53 member countries of the Commonwealth. It seeks to take forward the youth development agenda by voice of young people, developing youth-friendly policies and channelling resources to support youth development. Despite the proliferation of participation structures and frameworks at national, regional and international levels, ‘few would claim that these opportunities have resulted in the widespread and effective participation of young people’.97 Some even argue that such formal structures have not only failed to enhance outcomes for young people but also inhibited more radical youth activism.98 3.9  Conclusion Assessing the extent to which young people contribute to, or are able to participate in, the civic and political affairs of their communities and countries is difficult. Data from the 2016 YDI indicate that young people’s role in civic and community affairs is increasing throughout the world. Institutional arrangements at national and international levels are also becoming more conducive to greater youth participation in political processes, with the SDGs providing the roadmap for everyone to work more in concert. Yet, the impact of these developments on the desire and ability of young people to participate in democratic processes has waxed and waned. There is enough evidence to suggest that all over the world youth participation in formal political processes and institutions is declining. However, in relatively young democracies, youth participation in formal or traditional politics is fairly strong, signalling the optimism and trust of the youth in these integrating young people into development and democratic processes at the national, regional, and pan-Commonwealth levels. The CYC also provides a non-partisan platform to young people from Commonwealth countries to collectively engage with heads of government and other leaders at the highest levels of decision making. The CYC works to mobilise the voices of young people and advocate for governments to meaningfully engage young people, and takes action on its own youth-led projects. It partners with the Commonwealth Secretariat and other organisations with a focus on youth development. fledgling democracies that their voice and vote can make a difference. The decline in young people’s interest in formal politics does not, however, mean that they now care less about politics. The facts point to quite the opposite: youth are more engaged with civic and political affairs today than ever before. They just seem to prefer alternative modes of participation over the more formal routes. All over the world, young people have repeatedly demonstrated in the past few years that they are intensely interested in matters that are eventually decided by the village council, the town hall, the local government or the national parliament. The rising tide of protests, political consumerism and populism, and singleissue campaigns erupting on every continent all point to the increasing appeal of non-traditional and informal modes of participation to a youth population that is better educated and more aware and – for the first time in history – has the tools to mobilise and organise at short notice, thanks largely to the low-cost and high-speed connectivity provided by mobile phones, the internet and social media. To reverse the trend of declining youth participation in formal politics, governments and international agencies have introduced measures such as compulsory voting, lower age requirements, options to vote online, youth quotas and citizenship education, and established youth councils. While some of these initiatives have led to an increase in young people’s participation in certain countries and circumstances, they have yet to result in a