Youth Inclusion DRG Toolkit Bibliography

Toolkit for Youth Inclusion in Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance

Bibliography

This Toolkit was based primarily on Counterpart International’s “Youth and Democracy, Human Right and Governance Programming: A Technical Guide,” commissioned by USAID. This bibliography contains the critical references cited within other parts of this Toolkit, as well as additional resources consulted in the creation of the Toolkit, but not explicitly referenced.

General Youth Resources

● USAID’s Agency Youth in Development Policy represents a paradigm shift toward appreciating youth as assets and resources, and working with them comprehensively across various sectors rather than focusing on single-sector issues.

● YouthPower Learning’s definition and framework for Positive Youth Development is available as a conceptual framework and a suite of online tools that expand on the PYD domains, features, and suggested indicators.

● YouthPower Learning’s Systematic Review of PYD in LMICs presents the results of a rigorous analysis of existing evidence of PYD in LMICs; expands the knowledge base on the impacts and measurement of PYD programs; and provides valuable insights for international implementing organizations, researchers, and donors.

-Amongst the smaller sectoral reports is the Findings on DRG Brief, potentially most useful to this audience.

● Resources from the organization Youth Policy, which generates and consolidates knowledge and information on youth policies across the policy cycle, range from analysis and policy formation to policy implementation and evaluation.

● The 2017 Global Youth Well Being Index includes 29 countries and covers seven domains: gender equality, economic opportunity, education, health, citizen participation, safety and security, and information and communication technology.

● The 2016 Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing is a series of research papers outlining the economic and social imperative of investing in adolescents.

● In addition, there are many additional resources at YouthPower.org spanning multiple sectors of USAID’s work worldwide.

Models of Youth Participation:

● Roger Hart’s Ladder of Participation presents eight levels of youth participation that start from manipulation and tokenism at the lower rungs, to full participation at the top

● A second model, proposed by Harry Shier and based on Hart’s ladder of participation, is called the Pathways to Participation. The main take-away in the “Pathways to Participation” model is the focus on the behavior of adults.

● The third model that draws on and extends the first two models is proposed by Melvin Delgado and Lee Staples. This model of participation pulls from the literature of youth organizations and youth-led community organizing and focuses on the degree of power-sharing between adults and youth.

● UNDP handbook on health

Youth/DRG specific resources

● YouthPower Learning’s “What Works in Youth and Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Programming” is a curated list of tools, research, and high quality references broken down by subsector of DRG. Note that there is an imperfect overlap between the subsectors as organized on the What Works site, versus the modules in this toolkit. The What Works sections include Youth Participation, Electoral Participation and Engagement, Civic Engagement, Governance, Political Party Development and Participation, Social Movements, and Gender and Women’s Participation.

● YouthPower Learning also produced “What Works in Youth, Peace, and Security” which includes lessons from CVE, conflict, and trauma sensitivity mentioned elsewhere in this Toolkit.

Resources for Inclusion of Youth throughout the Program Cycle:

Resources for the Entire Program Cycle:

● Suggested Approaches for Integrating Inclusive Development Across the Program Cycle and in Mission Operations provides a framework and guidance for USAID teams to incorporate inclusive development principles at all stages of the Program Cycle.

● World Learning’s approach to inclusive development including that TAAP Inclusion Toolkit is groundbreaking in its practicality, thoroughness, and transformative potential.

Resources for the CDCS/RDCS Phase:

● USAID’s Agency Youth in Development Policy sets the foundation for why and how USAID prioritizes youth.

● USAID Democracy, Human Rights and Governance Strategy is aimed at DRG specific and relevant programming for all ages.

● USAID Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy ensures equity and inclusion of women and girls.

● USAID’s LGBT Vision for Action promotes and supports the inclusion of LGBT individuals throughout USAID programs.

Resources for Project Design and Implementation:

● The DRG Center in USAID produced the User’s Guide to Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Programming (released in March 2018) provides helpful tools and considerations for DRG programming for all ages in several subsectors, and is adaptable to youth-focused programming.

● USAID and EQUIP3 produced the Guide to Cross-Sectoral Youth Assessments, which provides a conceptual framework, instruments, and tools for designing and implementing youth assessments in developing countries. It is intended for use by assessment specialists and USAID Mission staff interested in conducting a comprehensive cross-sectoral assessment of the assets and needs of youth.

● The Feed the Future Project Design Guide for Youth-Inclusive Agriculture and Food Systems (Volumes I and II) was written for the agriculture sector, but lessons are easily transmitted to the DRG context (and many have been adapted for this toolkit).

Resource for Activity Design and Implementation:

● Youth Compass: A Strategic Guide to Strengthen Youth Activities is used to strengthen the design or ongoing efforts of a youth-focused or youth-included activity.

Resources for Monitoring and Evaluation:

● Learn more about youth engagement measurement and indicators in the Youth Engagement Measurement Guide and in UNICEF’s Conceptual Framework for Measuring Outcomes of Adolescent Participation.

● The subsector modules included as part of this Toolkit include sample indicators and categories for disaggregating project monitoring data in order to be inclusive of a wide variety of youth demographics.

● YouthPower Learning’s PYD Measurement Toolkit is another excellent, less sector-specific resource.

● USAID has funded a series of studies on soft skills for youth development that focuses on identifying the most important soft skills for key youth outcomes. This series is entitled Soft Skills for Positive Youth Development, and includes “How to Measure Soft Skills”.

● The Handbook of Democracy and Governance Program Indicators was produced by USAID in 1998; it is old but comprehensive, and still quite useful.

● Oxfam’s Youth Participation and Leadership Theory of Change Resource (also available on YouthPower Learning’s What Works site) is a starting point to help guide strategies for collective impact, by specifically considering youth inclusion.

● USAID’s Complexity-Aware Monitoring Discussion Note complements ADS 201 and outlines general principles and promising approaches for monitoring complex aspects of USAID development assistance. Complexity-aware monitoring is a type of complementary monitoring that is useful when results are difficult to predict due to dynamic contexts or unclear cause-and-effect relationships.

● On Learning Lab, the CLA Toolkit: “Engaging Stakeholders” site provides guidance that is highly applicable to engaging youth in M&E for DRG contexts.

● UNICEF’s 2018 Conceptual Framework for Measuring Outcomes of Adolescent Participation lays out a framework for defining which elements should be measured and how.