The Hope of Tomorrow: Integrating Youth into the Transition of Europe and Eurasia

Providing responsive programs and services that effectively integrate youth into the social, economic, and political transition of Europe and Eurasia (E&E) requires timely, accurate, and focused information. Assessments of the specific contexts and conditions of youth populations are vital to informing USAID Missions in their efforts to strengthen youth programming, participation, and partnership. These assessments will need to inform Missions on the specific challenges and opportunities faced by youth in their countries and provided insights into the best strategies to engage young people across their initiatives and operations. A primary focus of the youth assessment is to gather an “inside view.” That is, mobilizing relevant youth groupings to articulate their views, values and experiences to those conducting the assessment. Other external perspectives, such as youth experts, national and local government officials, and educators, are also included in the assessment. However, the emphasis is on the voice of youth themselves in order to ensure that the priorities identified by the assessment are grounded in the specific country’s realities relevant to their youth population.

The purpose of this manual is to provide USAID Missions in the E&E region with tools and methods for designing assessments that can illuminate the situation of youth in their countries. In most cases, Missions will use a rapid appraisal approach for their assessments, because it is a systematic method that quickly gathers key information about relevant groups and conditions. Assessments provide the initial information for missions to make evidence-based decisions in terms of developing programming and designating resources to address the critical issues currently facing young people. This manual provides the E&E Missions with guidance on how to design a youth assessment how to develop a statement of work (SOW) for their own office or a contractor to implement the assessment, and how to apply the assessment findings to their Assistance Objectives (AOs) and programming.

Missions are expected to use this manual as a resource guide for their particular circumstances and needs. It does not provide a specific model for implementing activities and is only one resource.