Youth Inclusion DRG Toolkit PYD Overview

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

What is Positive Youth Development?

Overview of Positive Youth Development

Positive Youth Development (PYD) can be understood through a conceptual framework that includes four core PYD domains and seven PYD programmatic features that can be built into activities. YouthPower Learning has developed a suite of online tools that briefly describes the PYD domains, features, and suggested indicators. It also provides recommendations for how PYD can be integrated into some of the key types of Youth and DRG programming, in order to strengthen those programs and help ensure youth have the supports and opportunities they need to transition to adulthood.

PYD is a relatively new paradigm in youth development that promotes an assets-based approach to working with youth rather than a problem behavior-based approach. USAID’s flagship cross-sectoral YouthPower Learning project reviewed the research and evidence on PYD and developed the following definition to guide USAID programming:

Positive Youth Development engages youth along with their families, communities, and/or governments so that youth are empowered to reach their full potential. PYD approaches build skills, assets and competencies; foster healthy relationships; strengthen the environment; and transform systems.

In addition to developing a definition, YouthPower Learning also created a conceptual framework for PYD that includes four core PYD components, or domains; seven PYD features that can be built into programs; and PYD indicators that can be used across multiple sectors. This Toolkit Guide briefly describes the PYD domains, features, and indicators and provides recommendations for how they can be integrated into some of the key types of Youth and DRG programming in order to strengthen those programs and help ensure youth have the supports and opportunities they need to transition to adulthood.

Four Domains of PYD: Assets, Agency, Contribution, and Enabling Environment

• Assets Youth have the necessary resources, skills and competencies to achieve desired outcomes.

• Agency: Youth perceive and have the ability to employ their assets and aspirations to make or influence their own decisions about their lives and set their own goals, as well as to act upon those decisions in order to achieve desired outcomes.

• Contribution: Youth are engaged as a source of change for their own and for their communities’ positive development.

• Enabling environment: Youth are surrounded by an environment that develops and supports their assets, agency, access to services, and opportunities, and strengthens their ability to avoid risks and to stay safe, secure, and be protected and live without fear of violence or retribution. An enabling environment encourages and recognizes youth, while promoting their social and emotional competence to thrive. The term “environment” should be interpreted broadly and includes: social (e.g., relationships with peers and adults), normative (e.g., attitudes, norms and beliefs), structural (e.g., laws, policies, programs services, and systems) and physical (e.g., safe, supportive spaces).

Seven Features of PYD:

1. Skill Building

2. Youth Engagement and Contribution

3. Healthy Relationships and Bonding

4. Belonging and Membership

5. Positive Norms

6. Expectations and Perceptions

7. Safe Public Space

8. Access to Appropriate and Youth-Friendly Programming; Integration of Services

This list translates these features with a lens for the DRG context:

Skill Building

This could include technical skills; however, soft and life skills should also be included. Consider ways to incorporate skill building activities within individual, family, peer and community settings. Keep in mind that young people’s sense of satisfaction in developing the skill is sometimes just as empowering as having the skill itself.

Youth Engagement and Contribution

Allow youth engagement to take different shapes. This can include youth expression, youth involvement in community service and creating opportunities for youth decision-making at various levels of government. This can also include programs that structure for youth contribution or that support youth leadership. Review the next section of this Guidance for different models and levels of youth participation that can be considered when designing programs, depending on the specific context and situation.

Health Relationships and Bonding

Identify and link youth to positive adult role models, mentors, coaches, teachers, health care providers, and community leaders. Ideally, youth have at least one caring and consistent adult in their lives. Healthy peer relationships are also particularly important to youth.

Belonging and Membership

Foster activities where youth feel included regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities or other factors. Identify activities that provide a positive sense of belonging (schools, sports, community service, faith-based youth groups, etc.)

Positive Norms, Expectations, and Perceptions

Have clear and consistent norms and expectations about health, relationships, and forms of engagement that provide youth an increasing amount of responsibility and independence and allow youth to grow and take on new roles.

Safe Public Space

Create safe public spaces that are tailored to the needs of youth- including physical infrastructure as well as emotional safety. Space can be defined in a variety of ways, including virtual. Many communities lack any space for youth to convene. Thus communities must be committed to providing youth with safe spaces to practice, engage, and learn creatively and collaboratively. An emotionally safe space is critical to learning. When feasible, consider engaging young people in the creation of such spaces to ensure they are not only ‘safe’ but also ‘motivating’ for youth. This can help generate interest and a sense of ownership among youth.

Access to appropriate and youth-friendly programming; integration among services

Make information available to youth and families, connecting and integrating health, social and other services so there is a continuum of care and support at a community level. For DRG-related programming, services may include the creation of institutionalized civic engagement mechanisms within government institutions to strengthen relationships between government and citizens; advocacy or civic education trainings provided by CSOs; and legal services provided through access to justice programs, among others. A youth lens should be used when developing and implementing these services, taking into consideration the needs of sub-cohorts of youth, including those representing marginalized populations.

When thinking about “youth” we need to be careful not to oversimplify; after all, there are many cross-cutting identities held by young people (such as gender, religion, disability, ethnicity). Therefore we need to think about inclusive development more holistically, including youth (and PYD) from a multitude of perspectives.