Welcome!
As we approach the mid-point of what's proving to be another successful year for YouthPower, we reflect on what we’ve accomplished so far and look ahead to the exciting work and events that await us! This issue of our newsletter highlights several new resources for youth program professionals, including:
- Results of YouthPower Learning’s Honduras youth situational analysis
- A newly published article in the Journal of Adolescent Health based on the systematic review of PYD programs in low- and middle-income countries
- A systems approach applied to life skills training and new policies that are benefiting vulnerable youth in El Salvador -- these successes can be modeled in places with similar contexts.
YouthPower Learning has also hosted several webinars in recent months; most recently, we focused on the topics of youth and peacebuilding and ethics of youth participation in research. Later this month, tune into a webinar on a new youth programming assessment tool that we’ll be co-hosting with our friends from YouthPower Action. You can access the presentations, discussions, and webinar recordings via the links in this newsletter and share them with your networks. And don’t forget to register for these exciting learning and knowledge sharing opportunities!
As always, we invite you to visit Youthpower.org to access many more resources and events that can help you improve your youth programming!
- The YouthPower Learning Team
NEW YOUTHPOWER RESOURCES AND EVENTS
Youth Participation and Peacebuilding in Conflict and Post-Conflict Environments: The Case of Tajikistan
YouthPower Learning grantee, Eurasia Foundation, hosted a webinar which discussed a report that analyzed youth civic engagement programs in Tajikistan over the last ten years and the impact of those programs on preventing violent extremism. Participants learned about the drivers of youth radicalization and violent extremism, and how programs can promote active youth participation for conflict prevention and peace-building initiatives.
Access the webinar recording and resources.
Youth Engagement Community of Practice (CoP) Meeting: Walking the Talk: Building Mutual Understanding on Youth Engagement
The Youth Engagement and Gender & PYD Community of Practice (CoP) co-hosted an in-person meeting and webinar in Washington, D.C. to discuss how to build stronger mutual understanding among donors, implementers, and young leaders on inclusive youth engagement in development programming. Program implementers and funders engaged in a lively conversation about this topic, sharing their successes and challenges for more meaningful engagement of young people in development projects.
Access the meeting recording and related resources.
Children and Adolescents Speaking Truth to Adults: Ethics and Participation
YouthPower Learning hosted a webinar with a panel of researchers and consultants specialized in the ethics surrounding youth participation in research. The panel discussed the challenges and solutions for ethical youth participation and how “gatekeepers” can facilitate or interfere with youth’s right to participate, offering an international perspective with examples from Canada, Europe, and low- and middle-income countries.
Access the webinar recording and resources.
UPCOMING EVENTS
June 12, 2019: InterAction Forum 2019 Panel: Advancing a Collective Agenda to Enhance Youth Programming
June 14, 2019: Making Work Safe for Youth
June 17, 2019: Learning from ASPIRES: Reality-driven Economic Strengthening for OVC & Other Vulnerable Population
June 25, 2019: YouthPower Learning Webinar: YouthPower Action’s Youth Programming Assessment Tool
June 25-26, 2019: No Lost Generation Tech Summit
June 26, 2019: Webinar: Adapting EGRA to Include Sign Language
June 28, 2019: Proposal Deadline: 2019 Mobiles for Education Alliance Symposium
July 15-17, 2019: Girl Up Leadership Summit
AROUND THE WORLD WITH YOUTHPOWER
Strengthening Support for Salvadoran Youth through Local Policies
Strengthening Support for Salvadoran Youth through Local PoliciesOne way in which USAID Bridges to Employment (Puentes) works to improve the long-term opportunities for youth in El Salvador is by collaborating with government entities to incorporate support for vulnerable youth into public laws and policies. Following the successful joint efforts of Puentes and the Instituto Nacional de la Juventud (INJUVE) to assist Ciudad Delgado and Soyapango in updating their municipal youth policies last year, the mayoral offices of Santa Ana, Mejicanos, and Zacatecoluca requested similar support in creating or revising their own policies.
Puentes and INJUVE worked closely with the three local governments to update their municipal youth policies, establishing new legal frameworks for the rights of youth that respond to their specific needs – including training and employment needs – in each municipality. Puentes supported INJUVE in training young men and women to facilitate consultations with peers to gather feedback on their needs related to employment, education, health, environment, security, recreation, and the rights of youth. Puentes also supported key stakeholders in drafting policies shaped around the priorities of youth, which were presented to the respective town councils. Puentes will help raise awareness of the new policies by printing and disseminating them to youth, the municipal governments, and key stakeholders. Now adopted into municipal law, the policies will not only guide funding for youth programs, but they will also enhance the enabling environment for youth employment in key high-crime communities in the country. Read more
Contact: Caterina Valero: cvalero@puentesempleo.com
Using a Systems Approach to Ensure Life Skills Training for Youth Responds to Employers' Needs
Using a Systems Approach to Ensure Life Skills Training for Youth Responds to Employers' NeedsA key element of USAID Bridges to Employment’s (Puentes) approach to workforce development is to ensure its trainings provide youth with the in-demand qualifications that employers seek, including life skills, such as self-confidence, communications, and teamwork. Through consultations with private sector companies, project staff learned of employers’ need for youth applicants with critical thinking and self-control. To ensure that youth from the country’s highest-crime municipalities learn these skills, Puentes collaborated closely with El Salvador’s national youth agency, INJUVE), as well as with employers, youth, and grantee training centers to supplement the project’s life skills curriculum. The newly designed training modules focused on 1) self-control and 2) critical, creative, and innovative thinking.
Last month, project staff began rolling out the new materials, teaching 35 instructors from 11 grantee training institutions, and 15 members of INJUVE’s technical staff on how to incorporate the key themes of self-control and critical, creative, and innovative thinking into their life skills training. This systems approach ensured the new materials were specifically designed to provide youth with relevant skills that increase their job readiness and employability. Learn more
Contact: Caterina Valero: cvalero@puentesempleo.com
Contribute to the Learning Agenda for PYD!
Each of us has an exciting opportunity to contribute to our understanding of PYD and close gaps in the evidence outlined in the PYD Learning Agenda. Recent contributions to the learning agenda have been added to youthpower.org – thanks to our early contributors, including World Vision, International Youth Foundation, and FHI 360! We encourage anyone who has related learnings and evidence from their work to submit their resources and help advance the field of PYD. Please send your contributions via email to info@youthpower.org.
NEW RESOURCES ON YOUTHPOWER.ORG
YouthPower Learning Resources
• Positive Youth Development Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Conceptual Framework and Review of Efficacy (Paywall)
• Summary Brief: Overview of Findings from the USAID-Honduras Assessment: A Situational Analysis of Western Honduras
• Grantee Deliverable: The Contribution of Positive Youth Development in Tajikistan to Effective Peacebuilding and to Countering or Preventing Violent Extremism: Successes, Limitations, and Recommendations - Research Report
• Grantee Deliverable: Report on the Workshop to Share and Validate Findings of the Research Action on Security in the Communes of the District of Tombouctou
Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL)
• Engage Youth: A Discussion Paper on Meaningful Youth Engagement
• Seeking and Finding Positive Youth Development Among Zulu Youth in South African Townships
• Assessing Youth Well-Being in Global Emergency Settings: Early Results From the Emergency Developmental Assets Profile
• USAID's Positive Youth Development (PYD) ECourses
Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance
• The Violence Reduction Subsector Review and Evidence Evaluation
• Evidence on Youth Impact: Strengthening Outcomes in Global Health, Economic Growth and Security, Stability and Peacebuilding Through Investing in Youth
• How to Teach Civics in Action to K-12 Students
Economic Growth, Education, and Environment
• Positive Youth Development in Mali: Mali Out-of-School Youth (PAJE-Nièta)
• Gender Differences in the Effects of Vocational Training: Constrains on Women and Drop-Out Behavior
• Three Ways to Make Hiring More Inclusive of Vulnerable Youth: Lessons from El Salvador
Gender
• Evaluation of Filles Éveillées (Girls Awakened): A pilot program for migrant adolescent girls in domestic service
• Brief: YouthPower Action AGYW Mentoring Program
• Adolescent Girls Empowerment Programme: Endline Technical Report
Health
• Building Resilience: A Mental Health Intervention for Tanzanian Youth Living with HIV
• Transitioning to a Healthy Adulthood: Lessons Learned from Adolescent Girls Living with HIV in Urban Zambia
Agriculture
• Making the agriculture sector work for youth: A tool to promote young men and women’s engagement in growing root, tuber and banana crops
• Constraints Faced by the Rural Youth in Farm Activities
Find more resources and events at YouthPower.org.