Featured Young Social Leader: Olivia Agbe

Olivia Agbe

Imani Academy & Co Youth Associate and History and Politics student, facilitator, and youth empowerment advocate.

Hi! My name is Olivia Agbe and I am a 21-year-old History and Politics student, facilitator, and youth empowerment advocate.

Since 2019 I have worked with a range of organisations, supporting them with their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), youth participation and employment strategies. I bring my lived experience of sitting on various youth boards and interacting with many youth services to inform my work. In all I do, I aim to champion youth voice to ensure that we are heard and listened to, especially in rooms where the issues talked about will affect our generation the most.

I first engaged with this style of work at 15 years old: I joined the first cohort of the West Midland Combined Authority’s youth board and played a significant role in shaping the WMCA’s response to race inequalities in the region. From here, I found my confidence through public speaking, and realised how sharing my lived experiences can encourage those in power to make the decisions that create meaningful change.

I also quickly realised that opportunities to drive change in the political, charitable and social sectors were often reserved for young people who had personally sought them out. It’s great that young people have the passion and confidence to place themselves in settings where they can shape significant change. However, I have always thought about young minoritised people who have a voice but may not have the platform, so I use my influence to push these voices to the forefront of the agenda.
 
My involvement in politics, both academically and professionally, has fuelled my passion to help young people improve their political literacy. I've seen how disengaged my peers have become with politics, particularly the UK political system, which has an impact on their daily lives. Many people care deeply about their community, healthcare, the environment, or education yet are not politically engaged. I feel this blocks their ability to truly influence change in our society.  
 
Two of the biggest threats to our political literacy as young people have been media bias and misinformation. Often my peers have noted that they would like to become politically engaged, but there is so much information to digest, some less accurate than others, and they find it hard to determine who or what they should believe in. Before they can even begin to think about voting or campaigning for the issues that they care about, they are met with unnecessary political jargon and often get caught up in the personal lives of politicians, rather than the actual work being done. My hope for greater political awareness for young people stems from the simple fact that information is power. I believe that when we consider those who wield power over us, as well as those who can be challenged to effect change, the government should be at the top of our list.

I feel that a lack of education results in limited action, which is one reason contributing to low voter turnout and political indifference among this generation. That is why I am on a mission to bridge the divide between politics and young people's daily lives through workshops, talks, and conferences that make this information more digestible.I hope that my experience as a young leader places me in a great position to create a space that amplifies the voices of young minoritised people rather than isolating them. 

Through my organisation, Ọrọwa, my aim is not to tell young people who to vote for or who is good or bad; it is to inform them of the system they live within and how this impacts their day-to-day lives. We aim to give young people the confidence and inspiration to see how they can contribute to meaningful change in their communities using politics. This work is just getting started.

If you’re a young person reading this, I would encourage you to get involved in politics, even if it is initially in a very basic way. You can find out who your local MP or Councillor is, and look at what they hope to do in your local area. I would encourage you to read the book Alistair Campbell Talks Politics by former journalist and political strategist Alistair Campbell. He gives his thoughts on how young people can engage in politics. Most of all, I would say be open! Be open to learning, challenging structures and dreaming bigger about what change you can have.

Originally featured in Young Social Leaders Newsletter Blog Series - here