Wanted: Young people with good ideas on how to relax the Covid measures

Researchers at Erasmus SYNC Lab started a new social media campaign called #fixdetoekomst (‘fixthefuture’) on Monday. This campaign encourages young adults to share their thoughts on how the government’s covid measures could be relaxed – and what they themselves would need for a brighter future.

Young people can tell the world which changes should be made first via the hashtag #fixdetoekomst and this website. Their ideas will serve as input for a manifesto that will ultimately be presented to the nation’s policymakers.

Clout

The researchers initiated the campaign for a number of reasons, including the widely discussed negative impact that the current crisis is having on our youth. Researcher Suzanne van de Groep: “We have learned from our research that young people have been hit quite hard by the covid crisis. But we also see that this group has a lot of good ideas. Through this initiative, we will try to bundle and call attention to those ideas. Whereas communities like the hospitality sector, senior citizens and the SME sector have strong lobbies that work in their interest, young people lack this kind of clout. And this weakens their position in the debate.”

The SYNC Lab team hope that this campaign will make young people’s voices better heard in the public debate and will lead to concrete results. “At the start of the covid crisis, Mark Rutte did call on young people to share their feedback. But in young people’s experience, no one has done anything with this input.”

Aligning measures

On the one hand, the researchers acknowledge that making covid protection policy is usually the preserve of RIVM and similar authorities. On the other hand, this doesn’t mean young people can’t make a contribution. The experts could definitely benefit from greater insight into this age group’s needs. “Considering the growing number of vaccinations, we expect measures to be eased sooner or later. The government can refer to this feedback to align these relaxations more effectively with young people’s specific situation,” says Van de Groep.