Welcome!

Recently, we’ve had the chance to hear and integrate youth voices into much of our work. Whether it be the Youth Talks dialogues for International Youth Day or hearing directly from young women sharing with us how they are making a difference in their communities, these voices demonstrate the importance of youth leading and engaging in community and global development. This issue of our newsletter stories of young people leading change. Across the world, in communities large and small, youth are building sustainable livelihoods, learning new skills as they prepare for the workforce, and training for new career paths. Our latest news stories from the field include: 

• Young nurses in Nicaragua bringing healthcare to remote areas

• Young people preparing for work in El Salvador's growing tourism industry

• An agro-enterprise in Saint Lucia providing livelihoods for new young farmers

YouthPower Learning continues to publish new youth assessments, such as the Spanish version of our Honduras youth assessment brief, and a new summary brief of a youth assessment recently completed in the Kyrgyz Republic. Be sure to check out the variety of new resources featuring several of our Young Women Transform prize winners! You can access the presentations, discussions, and webinar recordings via the links in this newsletter and share them with your networks. And, stay tuned for the launch of the first YouthPower photo contest later this week!

Visit Youthpower.org to access many more resources and events that can help you improve your youth programming!

- The YouthPower Learning Team

NEW YOUTHPOWER RESOURCES AND EVENTS

Relieving Bottlenecks in Adolescent Girl Programming: Community Engagement and Mentor Quality

YouthPower Learning recently hosted a webinar with the Population Council, who introduced two resources from their programs to help implementers address community engagement and mentor management within group-based programming for girls. The resources provide guidance on how and why to gather and use information about girls and their communities, as well as tools for mentor recruitment, training, and supervision. 

Access the webinar recording and resources.

Supporting Young Women Through Demand-Driven and Agile Programming

YouthPower Learning’s Gender & PYD Community of Practice recently hosted a webinar with Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) on demand-driven programming for young women. Speakers from EDC discussed their programs that support young women between the ages of 10 to 29 to develop personal agency, build healthy relationships, and learn work readiness and leadership skills that will enable them to thrive. They presented successful approaches for addressing key themes in positive youth development programming that work for young women.

Access the webinar recording and related resources.

Launch of Youth Programming Assessment Tool

Youth-serving organizations (YSOs) provide critical services and support to youth, yet many have little knowledge of positive youth development (PYD) and/or view these concepts as abstract and difficult to operationalize. To help YSOs reflect on their programming and institutional practices and identify areas for improvement, FHI 360, under USAID’s Strengthening Civil Society Global project and with support from YouthPower Learning, developed the Youth Programming Assessment Tool (YPAT). 

In July 2019, FHI 360, in collaboration with YouthPower Learning, introduced the Youth Programming Assessment Tool (YPAT), the first tool that provides youth-serving organizations in developing countries with concrete steps and examples for how to improve their programming based on the PYD approach. The tool sets standards of best practice against which YSOs can evaluate their own practices and guides YSOs through reflecting on their programming and creating actionable priorities to improve their youth programming.

Launch participants were given an opportunity to reflect in groups on past and current youth programs to determine their strengths and areas for improvement. In these groups, they discussed how this tool could be useful in the programs they are implementing, and what challenges and adaptations do they foresee. The YPAT was created to be flexible to individual organizations’ needs, and some easy adaptations include: focusing on specific domains within the tool based on the organization’s existing programs/needs and integrating with other organizational capacity assessments.

Contact: Kristin Brady: kbrady@fhi360.org

Young Women Transform: New Podcast, Blog, and Videos

Safeplan Uganda (Safeplan) and Kibera Community Empowerment Center (KCEO), two of YouthPower Learning’s Young Women Transform prize winners, were recently visited by USAID’s Education Links. As a result of the visits, Education Links, in collaboration with YouthPower Learning, produced a series of podcasts, videos, and a blog featuring Safeplan and KCEO. Check out the resources and learn more about these inspiring young women, and how they are bettering the lives of women and their entire community! Visit the Prize Winner’s page.

UPCOMING EVENTS

October 9-11, 2019: 2019 mEducation Alliance Symposium

October 21-24, 2019: SVRI Forum 2019

October 22-24, 2019: National Symposium on Youth Participation in the Peace Process in Cameroon

November 9-10,2019: Women Leaders in Global Health Conference

November 11-16, 2019: American Evaluation Association (AEA)

November 12-14, 2019: The Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 2019

November 19-21, 2019: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE)

December 8-14, 2019: East Africa Girls Leadership Summit and Mentor Program

AROUND THE WORLD WITH YOUTHPOWER

CFYR Supports Guyanese Youth Through Workforce Development Programs 

Seventeen year old Reanna Smith recently graduated from a vocational training program in Georgetown, Guyana and received her Level 1 Certification in electrical installation, taking the prize of Top Performer in her group graduating from Guyana’s Volunteer Youth Corps (VYC).  

She was recruited to join a workforce development program, a component of USAID’s Community, Family and Youth Resilience (CFYR) Program being implemented by local training institution, the Volunteer Youth Corps (VYC). The only female in the group studying electrical installation, Reanna is now certified by the local technical and vocational body in Guyana.  

Since November 2018, CFYR has provided training opportunities for 505 young people as part of its workforce development thrust in Guyana geared to provide young people with their chance for a livelihood through life skills and job readiness training, and ongoing life coaching to help them find and retain jobs, with students also completing vocational training in areas such as motor vehicle repairs, data operations, and food preparation.

USAID Deputy Chief of Mission, Mark Cullinane joined the graduates and members of the private sector in Georgetown for a closing ceremony for all 77 students who completed the VYC training.  The graduates will continue to benefit from six months of life coaching to support them in job retention. Learn more.

Contact: Evelyn Rupert: EvelynR@CreativeDC.com

Saint Lucia's Agricultural Sector Attracts Young Farmers

Eighteen youth from the Anse La Raye District in Saint Lucia, successfully completed an agro-entrepreneurship workshop implemented by USAID’s Community, Family and Youth Resilience (CFYR) Program, and are now pooling their talents and resources to launch Youth Coast Farm, a small enterprise in the community of Roseau where they plan to produce small crops for the local market.  During the training, participants were exposed to topics on agriculture and crop production. On August 27, the participants received certificates of completion at a closing ceremony held in the community.  The project is aimed at providing the young people with the skills to establish an agro-enterprise that will allow them to generate a sustainable income and help build their community.  They have since teamed up with local farmers who have provided a small parcel of land and are guiding them to plant their first set of crops.  Local private sector companies have agreed to purchase crops from the young farmers. Read more.

Contact: Evelyn Rupert: EvelynR@CreativeDC.com

Empleando Futuros Helps Honduran Youth Find Satisfying Work with Grupo Monge 

To meet their seasonal demands, most retail businesses require strategies for training and hiring large numbers of new employees.  Recognizing this need, the USAID Empleando Futuros project in Honduras saw an opportunity to train and place at-risk youth into jobs during busier seasons. Grupo Monge, a regional retailer in Central America, worked together with Empleando Futuros to develop a plan to train 90 youth from marginalized communities to help meet the company’s labor needs while supporting the project’s ambitious job insertion plan.  

The partnership is an example of how the private sector can work within the technical and vocational training system in Honduras. When projects and the private sector carry out recruitment together, they ensure that the youth selected for employment meet the required job profile while also meeting the programs’ beneficiary requirements. All youth who successfully complete the program will be offered at least two months of employment with the opportunity for a permanent job based on their performance and Grupo Monge’s needs. This tailor-made approach to training ensures work opportunities for youth who need them and a more highly qualified workforce for companies like Grupo Monge. Learn more.

Contact: Lindsey Spanner: lspanner@banyanglobal.com

Preparing Youth for Careers in El Salvador's Tourism Industry

As part of its focus on helping vulnerable youth prepare for employment opportunities in the country’s high-growth economic sectors, USAID Bridges to Employment (Puentes) is supporting youth in gaining the technical, life skills, and on-the-job training needed to get their start in El Salvador’s critical tourism industry.

 

To accomplish this, Bridges to Employment provides support to training centers that offer courses in tourism topics. One such training center is USAID-funded grantee Fe y Alegría (FyA) in San Miguel. In August, 20 vulnerable youth initiated their technical training course in Gastronomy with FyA to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to work as chefs and cooks. In addition to classroom instruction, FyA provides youth who successfully complete the training with internship opportunities with companies, and helps facilitate job placement for course graduates through labor intermediation services.

 

By offering support to vulnerable youth at multiple points in their development, Bridges to Employment is providing a holistic and complementary set of services that improve the employability of vulnerable youth. Equipped with this training and experience, vulnerable youth will find increased opportunities in the high-growth tourism sector, improving their potential for sustaining themselves and their families in their home country. Read more.

Contact: Caterina Valero: cvalero@puentesempleo.com

Miskito Nursing Grad Brings Healthcare to Diverse Population

With a blue and red cape placed over her white nurse’s outfit, Eda Masantos steps on stage at her graduation ceremony to address her peers. “This afternoon marks the end of a very important chapter in our lives,” she tells the audience. “But at the same time, it’s the start of an important chapter in our lives as professionals.” Masantos, 29, graduated in June with honors from the Intercultural Nursing program at the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast (URACCAN).

As a woman from the Miskito indigenous minority group in Waspam, in the Northern Caribbean Coast, Masantos faced many obstacles to becoming an educated professional working to improve health in this remote area of Nicaragua. But through the Aprendo y Emprendo project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative Associates International, she was able to earn a scholarship to pursue a technical education.  

Masantos and 31 other classmates, 25 of them women, received their degrees and became nursing technicians. The Aprendo y Emprendo Project, with strategic partner URACCAN, developed the Intercultural Nursing degree to meet the unique needs of a region in which rural families often lack access to healthcare services and information. Learn more.

Contact: Evelyn Rupert: EvelynR@CreativeDC.com

New on the PYD Learning Agenda

The PYD Learning Agenda prioritizes five themes to serve as anchors, guiding future research on PYD programs in low- and middle-income countries: understanding how PYD achieves impact, cross-sectoral impact, measurement of PYD constructs, PYD for marginalized or vulnerable populations, and youth engagement in PYD programs. Check out the latest resources under the second theme, cross-sectoral impact of PYD programs:

• Women’s Empowerment in Action: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Africa

• The role of training programs for youth employment in Nepal: Impact evaluation report on the employment fund

• Effectiveness of a community-based intervention to delay early marriage, early pregnancy and improve school retention among adolescents in India

These are just a few items available from our growing collection of useful resources. We are adding new resources to the Learning Agenda frequently, so we encourage you to explore often and see what’s new!

Each of us has an exciting opportunity to contribute to our understanding of PYD and close gaps in the evidence outlined in the PYD Learning Agenda. We encourage anyone who has related learnings and evidence from their work to submit their resources and help advance the field of PYD. Please send your contributions via email to info@youthpower.org.

 

NEW RESOURCES ON YOUTHPOWER.ORG

YouthPower Learning Resources

• Summary Brief: Overview of Findings from the USAID-Liberia Cross-Sectoral Youth Assessment Situational Analysis—Spanish

• Summary Brief: Overview of Findings from the USAID-Kyrgyz Republic Cross-Sectoral Youth Assessment 2

• Examples of Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health and PYD Program Activities with PYD Features, Mapped to a Socio-Ecological Model - AYRH Version

• Updated What Works in Health

• Youth Talks Dialogue- Webinar Recording

• Deaf Advocate Paves Way for Inclusive Education in Nicaragua (Video)

Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL)

• Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Survey Toolkit

• Using Data to See and Select the Most Vulnerable Adolescent Girls

• Endline Report: Youth Cohort Study of USAID/West Bank and Gaza’s Partnerships with Youth Activity

Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance

• Young People as Advocates: Your Action for Change Toolkit

• Stepping Up: Refugee Education in Crisis

• Effects of a Social Empowerment Intervention on Economic Vulnerability for Adolescent Refugee Girls in Ethiopia

Economic Growth, Education, and Environment

• Promoting Quality Education for Orphans and Vulnerable Children

• USAID: Social and Emotional Learning and Soft Skills

• The Impact of an Adolescent Girls Employment Program: The EPAG Project in Liberia

Gender

• Taking the Lead: Girls and Young Women on Changing the Face of Leadership

• Girl Shine: Advancing the Field- Designing Girl-Drive Gender Based Violence Programming in Humanitarian Settings

• What Gets Measured Matters: A Methods Note for Measuring Women and Girls’ Empowerment

Health

• Investing in Very Young Adolescents' Sexual and Reproductive Health

• Investing When It Counts: Reviewing the Evidence and Charting a Course of Research and Action for Very Young Adolescents

• Mental Health Fact Sheet

Agriculture 

• Are African Rural Youth Innovative? Claims, Evidence and Implications

• Exploring youth engagement in agricultural development: the case of farmers’ children in the Philippines as rice crop manager infomediaries (Paywall)

• Agripreneurship: Engaging Young People in the Agriculture Sector in the Gaza Strip

Find more resources and events at YouthPower.org.