《Vol. 126》 A Research on Measures to Activate Youth Participation in State Administration through Central Government Internship Program

Introduced in early 2023, the Central Government's Youth Internship Program aims to provide young individuals with opportunities to voice their opinions across various ministries and actively participate in state administration. However, the current legal basis for youth participation in state administration is limited to youth policies, and there is a lack of separate governance structure to ensure continuous monitoring and feedback processes. Results from the interviews with public officials and Focus Group Interviews (FGI) with the interns have suggested that there are discrepancies in the quality of work experience and policy participation opportunities across different ministries and departments. In light of these challenges, this issue paper proposes to establish the legal foundations for youth participation in state administration scoping beyond youth policies, to enhance the effectiveness of the Central Government's Youth Internship Program. Additionally, it suggests including young people's policy participation as one of the youth policy evaluation indicators for the government performance evaluation, and creating a separate governance structure to improve the program's operation.