Introduction

Part Three aims to enable donor agencies to get started with youth mainstreaming in their organisation.

This guide has been produced in the context of a growing recognition of the need to make the needs and experiences of socially excluded youth an integral dimension of development processes. This can be achieved by institutionalising youth policy and programming across all levels of development strategy. In the youth context this means:

• Allocating a proportion of all relevant budgets to youth development;
• Introducing a youth assets perspective to the work of all relevant bodies;
• Setting up appropriate mechanisms for youth participation in policy-making;
• Systematically monitoring and reporting progress made in youth development; and
• Building the body of knowledge on youth affairs.

Part One provided the rationale and benefits of youth participation and Part Two shared a range of promising practice for working with youth. In order to systematically pursue this type of youth participation through a process of youth mainstreaming, donor agencies may wish to consider developing comprehensive, process standards: commitments to follow an approach based on youth as assets. Essential elements that donor agencies should consider include:

• Institutionalising youth participation policies;
• Engaging with youth on strategic national planning;
• Supporting youth to directly implement development initiatives;
• Developing indicators for monitoring and measuring work with youth.

Alongside the provision of quality standards, Part Three outlines two key steps to getting started with youth mainstreaming: conducting a youth audit and including youth in country planning.