Policy and Planning
6. Bahrain’s National Youth Policy (UNDP)
To involve youth in policy formulation increases the chances of its success and uptake. Cross-sectoral youth policies are more effective: engaging different ministries in the process, such as education and health, enables the youth ministry to be mainstreamed. The consultative process develops young people’s skills so they are able to contribute more effectively to future policy initiatives.
The Government Department of Youth and Sport (GOYS) in Bahrain, supported and funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) undertook a comprehensive 18-month nationwide process to assess the situation, needs and aspirations of Bahraini youth in order to inform the country’s first National Youth Policy (created in 2004).
Youth Engagement Lens: Beneficiaries, Partners
Operational Area: Policy and Planning
7. Research Institutions and Social Dialogue (Government of Brazil)
Participatory research can help build grass roots capacity for understanding how public policy is created and can be influenced, resulting in a more informed public. Combined with reputable research institutions, it can have a powerful and convincing impact on governments.
In 2005, the Brazilian government sought the expertise of research institutions to lead on a series of policy dialogues with young people. The institutions commissioned were the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis (IBASE), the Polis Institute, the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the Canadian Policy Research Networks. The Brazilian Youth Dialogue was an 18-month study51 that surveyed young Brazilians about their views on democracy and their role in society.
- 51. Funded by a Canadian research grant. Undertaken in seven metropolitan regions of Brazil and the Federal District of Brasilia. Co-ordinated by Ibase and Polis Institute and carried out by a network of NGOs and universities.
Youth Engagement Lens: Beneficiaries, Partners
Operational Area: Policy and Planning
8. Poverty Reduction Strategy (Government of Vietnam)
Poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs)52 provide opportunities for government officials to learn how to work with and for young people. The Vietnam Government, in developing their poverty reduction strategy, commissioned an NGO (Save the Children) to conduct three consultations with children and young people in particularly poor urban areas over the course of five years. The purpose of the consultations was to feed into the formulation of the strategy, and to provide opportunities for young people and children to review the implementation of the strategy.
The first assessment in 1999, before PRSPs existed, was to inform national development planning and the World Bank’s Vietnam Development Report on poverty. The second consultation in 2001 sourced feedback on the interim PRSP and policy for the PRSP. The third consultation in 2003 was part of a review of progress on the implementation of the country’s first PRSP.
- 52. Poverty reduction strategy papers are the replacement for structural adjustment programmes, and are documents required by the IMF and World Bank before a country can be considered for debt relief.
Youth Engagement Lens: Beneficiaries, Partners
Operational Area: Policy and Planning
9. Uganda's National Development Plan (DFID)
“By involving a large number of national youth in NDP processes, we are creating a large base of the public that will be able to support, engage with and promote national development.” SPW
The social development advisor at DFID Uganda was acutely aware of the growing youth bulge in the country, and the need to engage more actively with young people in order to minimise the risk of youth apathy or violence. DFID Uganda commissioned a civil society organisation, SPW, to lead and organise a two-day national youth consultation at the request of the National Planning Authority in June 2009. Young people’s recommendations were listened to and clearly documented as part of the formulation of the National Development Plan (NDP).
Youth Engagement Lens: Partners
Themes: Governance, Voice and Accountability, Post-Conflict Transition and Livelihoods, Sexual and Reproductive Health
Operational Area: Policy and Planning
10. SRHR Needs Assessment,(UNICEF, Sierra Leone)
UNICEF Sierra Leone commissioned a partner civil society organisation (SPW Sierra Leone) to undertake a needs assessment with young researchers. The assessment focused on out-of-school children, i.e., those who have dropped out of school, those who never attended school, or those who have participated in non-formal school programmes. The information collected was used to produce a set of guidelines for life skills programmes delivering non-formal HIV education.
Operational Area: Policy and Planning
