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Public Policy New Voices Europe: Founders tell their stories
During an online session, Public Policy New Voices Europe Fellows welcomed founders of new initiatives that have arisen in response to gaps in policy provision.
Public Policy New Voice Europe connects, supports and empowers a new generation of diverse leaders in public policy. Across Europe, the profiles, backgrounds, and demographics of public policy professionals often fail to reflect the growing pluralism and multiculturalism of our societies. As governments, corporations, and communities grapple with regional and global challenges, we need diverse perspectives and bold innovative ideas to reimagine and redesign the future of public policy in ways that are more equitable, inclusive, and effective.
The session was moderated by Claudia Batz, World Obesity Federation Policy and Projects Coordinator and Salzburg Global Fellow. “Entrepreneurial responses to addressing policy gaps really provide us with an opportunity to challenge the existing narratives and to think outside of the box to enact change. (…) Storytelling is so important to see things through a new lense and that’s why I’m delighted to introduce you to inspiring founders who will share their initiatives that have emerged in response to identified policy gaps.”
“Business as unusual” is what we need to archive meaningful change in the political system, declared one Fellow in the sixth meeting of Public Policy New Voices Europe: Founders Stories on Tuesday.
Working to enable people to do business as unusual, are two young women who made it their mission to change what is considered “normal” in Europe. The co-founders of “We Belong Europe” and today’s speakers Yasmine Ouirhrane – Winner of the Young European of the Year Award 2019 – and Jana Degrott – a leader, jurist, woman, person of color, and one of the youngest elected officials in Luxembourg – shared their insights on how their platform aims to minimize barriers thrown at individuals who are not traditionally represented in fields manned by people looking and thinking alike. How does amplifying the voices of the former group work? How can the unseen become seen, the unheard become heard? What best practices can we learn from? How do we build confidence in the leaders of tomorrow? Yasmine and Jana’s platform help do exactly that by hosting a podcast that gives a platform to women who lead and inspire as well as provoke by not being stereotypical enough to be considered European by some, but also by running training sessions, and providing a safe space for opinions and the people voicing them.
It was the meeting’s third speaker, Uffe Elbæk, founder of Denmark’s green political party The Alternative, who demanded “business as unusual” to change “broken systems”. The goal, he stressed, is to create systems that give people voices, reconnect citizens with politicians and depart from established systems. In the newly created ones, the task of democracy should no longer rest on the shoulders of few but be reassigned to a large collective – made up of civilians and politicians alike – who do the work. In times when democracy is on the decline in 83 countries in the world and our understanding of the concept, as well as of what it should be and can be is endangered, it is vitally important to provide a platform where citizens can be involved politically in ways that are not expected by traditional parties, he argued.
The session’s end was a reminder of points made at the beginning: Entrepreneurial responses to address public policy gaps are plentiful and provide unique opportunities to challenge existing narratives – regardless if those narratives are concerned with how the political system works or who should be a part of it.
For more information about Public Policy New Voices Europe, click here.