My Life My Say

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My Life My Say (MLMS) is a youth-led, non-partisan charity based in the United Kingdom on mission to empower young people to participate in democracy. The charity does this by creating spaces for dialogue across communities and generations, and by providing young people, particularly those who are socially excluded, with the tools to lead change within society.^[1]

MLMS won the UK Government's 2018 National Democracy Change Makers award^[2] which recognises an organisation that has put forward a new idea to increase access to democracy, convinced others of the merit of their idea, and affected a real change that benefits the greater good.

MLMS has proven its ability to influence policy and empower young people across the UK and Europe. It has garnered the praise of the UK Government, Mayor of London, European Commission and European Parliament.^[3] This is because MLMS has gained a unique understanding of how to engage with “hard to reach” communities and to revolutionise their approach to electoral participation. MLMS are also proud members of the UK Government's National Democracy Council^[4] helping advise the Cabinet Office on their democratic engagement strategy.

To date, MLMS has worked with over 41,000 young people directly and thousands more indirectly.^[5] MLMS is the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for a Better Brexit for Young People (APPG-BBYP)^[6] that is chaired by Stephen Kinnock MP and was widely recognised as a significant driver of youth engagement in the increase of turnout for young people in the 2017 and 2019 UK General Elections.^[7]

Democracy Cafés[]

MLMS is best known for its Democracy Café engagement method. The charity has re-invigorated the 17th-century tradition of communities coming together in local coffeehouses to discuss regional, national and international issues. By using a more youth-friendly environment such as Starbucks, MLMS creates a safe space for young people to express themselves and to discuss their opinions on matters that affect them.^[8]

MLMS, working together with partner organisations, has hosted more than 100 events in coffee shops across the UK and Europe. These events brought together diverse members of the local community who do not usually interact with each other, to discuss the most pressing issues of the day, as well as possible solutions. This model brings a social buzz back to coffee shops and makes them a place where communities can come together and engage in meaningful discussions.^[9]

Working together with the London School of Economics, MLMS has developed a research methodology for these events to ensure that they are more than just a "talking shop" and the charity is able to gather invaluable insight to help support decision-making. All of the information they gather at their Café events feeds into their All-Party Parliamentary Group.^[10] The findings of certain issues and concerns presented during the cafes are then able to gain traction in Parliament where alongside decision-makers, MLMS can help to make policy recommendations based on the information the charity collects through its APPG.

Common Futures Forum[]

The Common Futures Forum (CFF) is held at the end of each year whereby each of the Democracy Café attendees are invited to London for a full day of events and discussion. Initially launched by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan in 2018, the Forum “aims to inspire, empower and connect young and socially excluded citizens to lead change, by providing them with the platform to shape society”.^[8]

During the event, speakers are invited to explain their areas of expertise before engaging in a question-and-answer session with an event host. The day also includes lab sessions which test new ways of democratic engagement, encourage debates, and tools of productive discussion by hosting a panel of speakers in conversation with the audience about select topics.^[11]

The CFF in 2019 gathered social influencers such as Gina Martin who worked to make upskirting illegal and leaders of the technology sector such as Jurgen Maier to address the future world of work. Other speakers such as Lord Simon Woolley were invited to discuss the importance of youth engagement and leadership moving forward.^[11]

The organisation's new Young Leaders 2020 initiative will use the months leading up to the CFF to train and directly involve young ambassadors across the UK to facilitate the end of year event.^[12]

Advocacy[]

MLMS seeks to represent the views of young people to stakeholders and decision-makers at a local, national and international level. This work is based on the inception of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on a Better Brexit for Young People (BBYP), which acts as an engagement platform between young people and decision-makers to ensure that youth voice is at the heart of the Brexit negotiations.^[13] The APPG's purpose is to involve young people in the Brexit negotiation process. The turnout among young people aged 18 to 24 in the EU referendum was almost double the level that has been widely reported since polling day, according to evidence compiled at the London School of Economics.^[14]

MLMS' Parliamentary privileges afforded by the APPG allows the charity to feed its events, such as Democracy Cafés, into the decision-making process and by doing so they can achieve tangible policy outcomes. This is demonstrated in MLMS' report, titled UK Youth Perspectives and Priorities for the Brexit Negotiations, which was released in October 2017.^[15]

MLMS recently implemented a new strategy to engage young people in democracy. This strategy is the Young Leaders 2020 programme which selects 20 people between the ages of 16-25 across the United Kingdom to be trained by a dozen of the organisation's sponsors and affiliates. The training ranges from public speaking and leadership to stakeholder management and community organising. The hope of this programme is to have a mutually beneficial relationship with the nation's young people who wish to not only be at the forefront of their community's most pressing political issues, but to boost their resume and jump into their work experience.^[12]

Voter registration[]

MLMS has been campaigning to push voter registrations amongst 18-24 year olds since the snap election was called in 2017. Over 200,000 (of 308,000) people under the age of 35 registered to vote in the single day of November 22, 2019.^[16] My Life My Say's CEO, Mete Coban spoke about the importance of this vote saying: “This is the defining election for our generation. We are talking about making a decision with Brexit that is going to affect the direction the country goes in maybe for the whole of young people’s lives”.^[16] The Vote For Your Future (VFYF) campaign sent out teams of voting advocates including those representing My Life My Say on the final day of registration to encourage young people to have their say in the election ^[16] In continuation of this initiative, MLMS also invited young people to the Common Futures Forum in November 2019 where debates, panel discussions and speakers presented their expertise on topics from artificial intelligence, upskirting and social influencing.^[17]

Petitions[]

MLMS uses public petitions as a way to champion young people's voices. Till date, the charity has launched three petitions which have received over 888,000 signatures calling on the Government to act in the best interests of young people. These petitions included one directed to Theresa May, demanding answers about the public's confusion in the Brexit negotiations, two years after it was first announced. The other two petitions My Life My Say began were directed to Boris Johnson. One asking for a definitive ruling out of a no-deal Brexit before officially leaving the EU. The other requesting Johnson not to shut down Parliament in the hopes of avoiding the Government “to ram through an undemocratic Brexit” purely for the sake of putting an end to the drawn-out discussions.

Listen Up! Campaign: MLMS was involved in the initiative of raising signatures from 50 MPs promising to have discussions with 20 young constituents about Brexit. Stephen Kinnock MP spoke of the campaign: “Our duty as elected representatives of the people is yes, to exercise our own judgement but we should only do that having taken account of the views and priorities and concerns and hopes and fears of our constituents”.^[18]

Creation of MLMS[]

Cllr Mete Coban MBE co-founded My Life My Say (MLMS) in 2013. He is most credited for setting up the All-Party Parliamentary Group on a Better Brexit for Young People^[19] and contributing to the increase of youth voter registration in the UK 2017 General Election through the national #TurnUp campaign.^[20] At the age of 21, Mete was elected as the youngest ever Councillor in the London borough of Hackney for Stoke Newington.^[21] He currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Working in Hackney scrutiny commission.^[22]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• "Mylifemysay, registered charity no. 1167431". Charity Commission for England and Wales.