DEMOCRATIZATION  //  23 Tiina Kukkamaa-Bah, Chief of ODIHR’s Democratic Governance and Gender Unit; Patrick Clarke, Vice-president of the European Disability Forum; MEP Helga Stevens, Co-chair of the Disability Intergroup of the European Parliament; Kostadinka Kuneva, Co-Chair of the Disability Intergroup of the European Parliament, Brussels, 8 November. (OSCE/Anete Erdmane) “M and the broader OSCE region were discussed by 44 participants (14 men, 30 women). Enhancing youth participation ODIHR undertook a number of activities in 2017 to improve the political engagement of youth in OSCE participating States, in line with the OSCE’s human dimension commitments, which highlight the pivotal role young people can play in helping states fulfil their democracy and human rights obligations. One of ODIHR’s key events for youth took place in Tirana on 17 N ­ ovember. The event brought together 27 young people (15 men, 12 women) from across South-Eastern Europe, as well as experts on political parties, civic technology and e-democracy, to explore how new technologies and social media platforms can be used to strengthen the political participation of young people. Challenging the narrative that young people are disengaged from civic and political life, the event highlighted that they typically favour non-formal methods of political engagement, such as volunteering, information-sharing and issue-based activism, which are not captured by the conventional metrics for measuring political engagement. Promoting the integrity of democratic institutions In 2017, ODIHR helped OSCE participating States to adopt integrity measures to increase the transparency and accountability of democratic processes. ODIHR assisted ten countries in improving legislative frameworks regulating money in politics and helping to build the capacity of bodies responsible for the aking politics and political life more diverse and more inclusive is a joint responsibility for all of us. A concerted effort and a set of concrete measures are needed to make politics more inclusive. This is not only about running in elections, but also about participation in political activities and meetings, and access to information and debates, both online and offline, particularly for deaf people who use sign language, blind people and for people with learning difficulties.” — Helga Stevens, the second elected deaf Member of the European Parliament