By Vera Aluoch, DDI/EDU USAID Virtual Student Federal Service Graduate Intern
Youth and adult development practitioners from around the globe convened at the YouthPower2 Symposium November 9-10, 2021, to exchange insights and promising youth development program strategies. The opening session on “Decolonizing Development,” led by the USAID-funded Youth Excel program, kicked off the Symposium with a provocative discussion among youth leaders on youth-adult power differentials. The Youth Excel representatives emphasized the importance of acknowledging how hierarchies within our societies are based on differences in power and this often involves power differences between adults and youth. These carry over into development work, particularly in research, where youth input is often devalued. Quite often, as development practitioners, youth are not considered to be credible sources of knowledge as they are viewed to be lacking in experience, judgment, and capacity as credible conveyors of information. Intersectional youth—with overlapping identities based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or class—face further exclusions.
Discuss