The Power of Safe Spaces: Why Inclusion is Essential for Young People’s Growth

A Journey of Supporting Youth in West Africa

With over 10 years of experience working to advance the rights of sexual and gender minorities in West Africa, I began exploring capacity-building initiatives for nascent and small organisations as an independent consultant. This eventually led to my role at EMpower as the Programme Consultant for Nigeria and Ghana in 2022, where I have enjoyed supporting organisations that work with young people (ages 10 – 24), training them in relevant life skills (including self-confidence, decision-making, and communication), fostering physical and mental wellbeing, and providing them with learning opportunities—formal or informal—as well as improving their livelihood opportunities. 

Inclusion is Not Optional—It’s Essential

In all of these, creating and providing safe spaces has been a key element in the various programmes we support, all aimed at improving the lives of young people. 

A safe space is a supportive environment where individuals feel comfortable being themselves without fear of discrimination, harassment, judgement or violence. It is a place where people can openly express their ideas, share personal experiences, or engage in conversations with confidence that their feelings will be respected. While the goal is to foster an environment of empathy, understanding, positive interactions, and psychological safety, efforts must still be made to ensure these safe spaces are created based on diversity and inclusion. 

Holding Spaces for Young People to Thrive

Creating inclusive, safe spaces ensures that all young people, from varied backgrounds, , identities and experiences feel valued, respected, and supported. This includes acknowledging further marginalisation experienced by people with disabilities, sexual and gender-diverse people/minorities, young women, and girls.  It is about ensuring that all young people feel welcome regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, sex characteristics, socioeconomic status, disability or any other identity marker. It is important to note that in truly inclusive spaces, diversity is respected and celebrated, not merely tolerated.

The Impact of Inclusive Environments

When we create spaces that are truly safe and inclusive, we are able to: 

• Build trust and meaningful engagement: Young people are more likely to engage meaningfully when they feel their identity and experiences are respected. 
• Encourage self-expression: When young people feel able to express themselves openly, and as a result, it enhances their personal growth and facilitates building meaningful social connections. 
• Support mental wellbeing: Safe spaces reduce risks of discrimination, isolation, violence, and mental health issues, contributing to support healthier mental health outcomes for the young people.
• Cultivate future leaders: These spaces help foster leaders who embrace diversity and value inclusion and equity in their communities. 

How We Make Inclusion a Reality

As we explore ways to ensure our young programme participants feel safe, seen, and heard, regardless of their unique identities, experiences and backgrounds, we do this by:

Creating representation: This entails programme materials and activities that reflect a wide range of backgrounds, cultures, identities, and perspectives, particularly in line with the context of the communities and the young people we work with. It is important to use diverse stories, scenarios, imagery, and examples that reflect the identities, backgrounds and experiences of young people. 

Inclusive language: We must avoid language that is exclusive or alienates young people based on gender, sexual orientation, or ability. An important step here is training staff, volunteers and educators on inclusive language, such as using gender-neutral terms like “police officer” instead of “police man” or “police woman” and respecting preferred pronouns. Pronouns help us to identify people when speaking or writing about them. In the context of gender identity, pronouns reflect a person’s sense of self and the gender they identify with or, sometimes, not identifying with any gender at all (as in cases of a non-binary or gender non-conforming person whose gender identity doesn’t fit within the traditional binary categories of exclusively male or female). To further unpack the concept of non-binary, it is important to note that most people, including most transgender people, are either male or female. However, some people have a gender identity that blends elements of being a man or a woman, or a gender different from either male or female. Some people don't identify with any gender, and some people's gender changes over time. I should also add here that being non-binary is not the same thing as being intersex and these nuances of gender and sexual identities make it important to explore and learn more on inclusive language. 

Accommodations for accessibility: Making spaces accessible for young people with physical or cognitive disabilities by ensuring adaptive equipment that supports full participation. This could involve sharing information in languages or formats that all young people understand, for instance, providing sign language interpreters. 

Flexible approaches: Recognising that not all young people have the same needs or experiences, I encourage flexible programme structures and approaches that allow organisations to use different ways of reaching and engaging young people in all their diversity. 

Meaningful youth engagement: By this, I mean supporting and encouraging young people to share their experiences, perspectives and ideas to shape youth programmes, making them more inclusive. It allows for the voices of young people to guide programme adjustments which is a highly effective strategy, and this is something at the core of the work we do at EMpower.  

A Call to Action: The 16 Days of Activism and Beyond

As we prepare to commemorate this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, I encourage implementing partners, funders, and all organisations working with young people to ensure that safe spaces are inclusive, free from violence, and create equitable opportunities for holistic development—particularly for those who are further marginalised. By adopting inclusive practices in our programming, training staff and volunteers, engaging young people meaningfully, and committing to continuous improvement, we will create spaces where young people of diverse identities and backgrounds can thrive. These inclusive spaces will not only support the young people of today but also contribute to building a more empathetic, equitable, and inclusive society for the future.