Commission for Social Development
Topic Summary
Youth Political Participation and Democratic Inclusion
Youth political and economic participation remains one of the most pressing governance challenges of our time. Despite making up a significant share of the global population, young people are systematically excluded from the formal institutions that shape their lives — only 2.8% of parliamentarians worldwide are aged 30 or under, and 64.9 million youth were unemployed globally in 2023. This committee will examine how states and international institutions can build durable pathways for youth inclusion, from voting age reform and participatory budgeting to youth employment guarantees and entrepreneurship support.
Meet your Director!
Dear Delegates,
Welcome to Harvard Model United Nations Australia 2026. My name is Anjali Krishnamurti, and I am honored to be your Director. I am genuinely excited to meet you and to spend our committee sessions debating, negotiating, and building creative solutions together.
I am a junior at Harvard College studying Social Studies, focusing on governance, law, and inequality in the United States. I care deeply about how democratic institutions decide who counts as a political actor—and how communities push those boundaries when they are excluded. That question has shaped much of my organizing and research. I founded Vote16NJ, a student-led organization advocating to lower the voting age to sixteen in school board elections across New Jersey, grounded in the belief that young people deserve meaningful power in the local institutions that shape their education and daily lives.
I have also worked with the City of Newark, the Democratic Women’s Caucus, and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, supporting local policy work and community-rooted economic justice initiatives. Those experiences convinced me that political participation and economic opportunity are inseparable: when young people lack voice in decision-making spaces, policies about education, employment, housing, and public investment are often made without them—despite affecting them most.
At Harvard, I served as Co-Chair of the JFK Jr. Forum Committee, leading a large student team to design and staff public conversations at Harvard’s center stage for political discourse. We hosted distinguished speakers such as former Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and President Joe Biden, and I learned firsthand how powerful it can be to create spaces where people disagree seriously, listen carefully, and still leave with a deeper understanding of one another, which I want to replicate during our time together.
In this committee, I encourage you to treat debate with rigor, ambition, and empathy. Come prepared with research and strategy, but also with curiosity—about your topic, your fellow delegates, and the compromises that make solutions possible. I will be looking for delegates who build coalitions, elevate new ideas, and help others participate, because strong diplomacy is never a solo performance.
Outside of my academic and policy work, I love exploring new coffee spots around the Boston area. If you have any questions before the conference—about procedure, research direction, or how to prepare—please feel free to reach out. I cannot wait to see what you bring to the room.
Sincerely,
Anjali Krishnamurti
Director, HMUN Australia 2026