Setting a Positive Youth Development (PYD) Learning Agenda

The impetus for and framing of a Positive Youth Development (PYD) learning agenda was based in a systematic review undertaken by YouthPower Learning. In 2015, USAID commissioned the YouthPower Learning project to undertake a systematic review to synthesize the literature on evaluations of PYD programs in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) and identify the gaps in evidence to inform future research. The purpose of the resulting PYD learning agenda is to define priority questions in the field of PYD in LMICs. The primary goal of the learning agenda is to provide collective guidance for a common agenda to address evidence gaps and invest in evidence-building activities related to PYD. It was developed through an iterative process in consultation with youth-serving and youth development practitioners, researchers, evaluators, and funders.

The PYD learning agenda prioritizes five themes to serve as anchors to guide future research on PYD programs in LMICs. Under each theme, there are two guiding research questions, along with illustrative sub-questions. The learning agenda also provides guidance for potential ways to answer those questions. The PYD learning agenda is intended to stimulate both learning and action for immediate next steps such as determining how best to sustain PYD policies, programs, and strategies that are found to be effective, and what resources are needed to implement PYD approaches at scale. The main audiences for the learning agenda are those who design, implement, and evaluate youth programs.  Anyone who works with youth in LMICs can respond to this learning agenda and advance the PYD field. 

This poster outlines how the learning agenda was set, its key questions and how learning agendas generally can be used to harness the contributions from the global community broadly and how this agenda can be used to advance the field of PYD specifically.

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