USAID gets advice from Tanzanian youth

In June, Restless Development facilitated a USAID consultation with 13 Tanzanian youth on the development of a new USAID youth policy. The young people asked for less "one-off" training, and more ongoing support for skill development. The young people also argued for more involvement of youth in development, implementation and monitoring of aid services, and that the services should be more accessible to young people. They also asked for more support for their efforts to educate adults on the importance of youth participation.

These Tanzanian youth asked USAID to recognize young people as experts on their own needs and priorities, and not just as the beneficiaries of services.

Youth Consultation with USAID

New paper from the Center for International Private Enterprise supports youth participation in development

The Center for International Private Enterprise has released a new economic reform policy paper called "Promoting Youth Development: Policy Options and Reform Recommendations." The paper is based in part on essays submitted by youth as part of the Center's International Youth Essay Contest, and offers recommendations for the inclusion of youth in development decision-making. According to the introduction, "Creating an inclusionary youth policy that focuses on the value of entrepreneurship, citizen participation, and the freedom of information is vital for the future of free markets and democracy."

Paper at a glance:

• The burgeoning youth population in the developing world has created an impetus to alleviate youth unemployment and political disenfranchisement through reform.
• Needed reforms must be influenced by the grassroots youth community, rather than limited to the traditional, top-down government approach to youth policy.
• The institutional environment has to be improved to facilitate the growth of the private sector and provide employment opportunities to youth entering the labor market.

Youth Participation Digest for October 29, 2009

My posts have been somewhat infrequent recently, but youth participation does not stop! So rather than a post about a single event or opportunity, here's a digest of recent youth participation-related articles and posts I have come across.

Opportunities

Community development funding available for young leaders

Young Canadians interested in community development have an opportunity to receive up to $1,500 in funding to plan and carry out a community project. Grants are provided by the Society of Educational Visits and Exchanges Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage. Projects must be youth-led and associated with a town/municipal council. The application deadline is Nov. 19.

Youth participation - growing up?
The Children's Services Network, a program of the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU), will hold a seminar on youth participation in London on December 12. The session will examine the extent to which existing youth participation programs and policies are effective, for both young people and local authorities. The session will conclude with a reception at "Youth participation - growing up?," a report written by the LGiU's youth advocate, will be released.

News

Rt. Honorable Speaker addresses the 121st IPU Assembly
Nepal's Speaker of the Legislative Parliament and its Chief Whip of the Nepali Congress addressed the 121st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva on October 22. The Chief Whip, Hon. Laxman Prasad Ghimire, told the Assembly, “Though youth participation in political and democratic process has increased in quantitative terms, they still lag behind in influencing the core decision making process of the national as well as the international polity.” Mr. Ghimire stressed that “only through acceptance of youth as a critical stakeholders and ensuring their meaningful participation in sustaining the democratic process can institutionalize democracy." Mr. Ghimire called for the formation of Youth Parliamentarians Caucuses in member Parliaments and a Caucus of Youth Parliamentarians in the IPU.

Nigeria: Vision 2020 - Integrating Youth Concerns Into Development Agenda
The Nigerian Ministry of Youth Development recently held a workshop in Lagos on youth mainstreaming for government youth development officers, teachers, journalists, representatives of civil society organizations and other stakeholders. Youth mainstreaming is the process of involving young people in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies and programs that affect them. The aim of this workshop was to support integration of young people into national and economic development planning.

We're Building a Global Movement
This post from the It's Getting Hot In Here blog describes some recent successes of the international youth climate movement. One example is the recent establishment of YOUNGOs, or youth non-governmental organizations, as a recognized observer constituency within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This will facilitate communication between youth NGOs and the UN secretariat.

USAID supports Youth Mobilization Committees in Nepal

In 2006 the American international aid agency USAID began a program designed to support the transition to peace and democracy in Nepal. Among other strategies, the program supported the formation of Youth Mobilization Committees (YMCs) in villages in the Terai region where young people were most likely to join armed groups. These committees worked with their communities to select community service projects and engaged other youth in the projects.

Projects included reconstruction of community libraries and early childhood development centers and rehabilitation of roads, health posts and schools. Some 125,000 youth participated, including 4,000 as YMC members.

The popularity of the YMCs and their projects led to both financial and labor contributions from local governments and the community. According to USAID, the development of budgets by the YMCs ensured transparency and led to pressure for greater accountability in local government budgets. In some communities the YMCs obtained additional funding from the local government for larger projects. In one village, for example, the local government was so pleased with the YMC's work that it planned to continue funding local projects through the existing YMCs.

Mobilising Nepali Youth for Community Service

USAID/OTI Nepal Quarterly Report, January - March 2009

New text on children and young people's participation

There's a new book out from Routledge called A Handbook of Children and Young People's Participation: Perspectives from Theory and Practice, by Barry Percy-Smith and Nigel Thomas. It's 400 pages and aimed at both scholars and practioners.

From the flyer:

Promoting the participation of children and young people--in decision-making and policy development, and as active contributors to everyday family and community life--has become a central part of policy and programme initiatives in both majority and minority worlds.

This book presents the most useful recent work in children’s participation as a resource for academics, students and practitioners in childhood studies, children’s rights and welfare, child and family social work, youth and community work, governance, aid and development programmes.

The book introduces key concepts and debates, and presents a rich collection of accounts of the diverse ways in which children’s participation is understood and enacted around the world, interspersed with reflective commentaries from adults and young people. It concludes with a number of substantial theoretical contributions that aim to take forward our understanding of children’s participation.

Some sample chapters:

• Challenges of participatory practice
• Armed conflict and post conflict peace building
• Participation of children in the most difficult situations
• Children’s participation in law reform in South Africa
• Disabled children and participation in the UK
• Participation among young people with mental health issue
• The construction of childhood and the socialisation of children in Ghana
• Youth participation in indigenous traditional communities
• Children’s participation in school and the local community
• Getting the measure of children and young people’s participation
• Challenging obstacles to the participation of children and young people in Rwanda
• Child reporters as agents of change
• Children’s participation in citizenship and governance
• The effectiveness of Youth Councils in Scotland
• Critiquing youth parliaments as models of representation for marginalised young people
• Children and deliberative democracy
• Governance and participation

Barry Percy-Smith is Reader in Childhood and Participatory Practice at the SOLAR Action Research Centre, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.

Nigel Thomas is Professor of Childhood and Youth Research at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, and Co-Director of The Centre, which promotes and conducts research on children and young people’s participation.

A Handbook of Children and Young People's Participation will be available August 14, 2009.

Involving children in international climate change policy

Here's a very exciting organization called "Children in a Changing Climate" (CCC) that is working to engage children and youth in climate change policy, research and advocacy.

Children in a Changing Climate is a global collaborative action-research, advocacy and learning programme that aims to secure children's influence in preventing and adapting to climate change at every level - from their families and communities to the United Nations climate change negotiations.

According to the website this effort came out of an action-research project that engaged children in the Phillipines and El Salvador in policymaking related to disasters and climate change. There's currently a link to an 11-minute film about children's involvement in advocacy in these countries. The film includes some words of wisdom from young mentors to adults on how to avoid being boring!

CCC will be launching individual research, policy, learning and action websites. There's also a link to sign up for an electronic newsletter.

Children in a Changing Climate

Here's a related article from the Institute for Development Studies: Putting Children and Future Generations at the Heart of Climate Change and Human Security