Prime Contractor - YP2LE Lead:
Making Cents International
Sub-Contractors:
FHI 360
Global Knowledge Initiative
International Center for Research on Women
Mathematica Policy Research
NORC
Restless Development
The Cloudburst Group
University of Melbourne
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Voluntary Services Overseas
Youth Alive Uganda
Project Timeline:
2019 - 2024
Project Goals:
Building upon the success of YouthPower Learning, the USAID-funded follow-on activity, YouthPower2: Learning and Evaluation (YP2LE), will deepen the integration of Positive Youth Development (PYD) evidence and best practices into youth programming, ensuring more sustainable change.
Background
With 1.2 billion youth in the world, it is crucial that we meaningfully engage them to create positive social change for themselves, their families, and their communities in order for everyone to thrive. Positive Youth Development (PYD) is a widely accepted philosophy and approach that, when applied appropriately, ensures 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 2015, USAID funded the YouthPower Learning project to expand the evidence base for what works in PYD and build the capacity of youth development practitioners, researchers, and other relevant stakeholders to apply PYD on the ground. Building upon that success, the USAID-funded follow-on activity, YouthPower2: Learning and Evaluation (YP2LE), deepens the integration of PYD evidence and best practices into youth programming, ensuring more sustainable change.
Description
YP2LE brings the Youth in Development Policy to life by enabling investments in PYD research and evaluation within and across multiple sectors, including health, education, agriculture/food security, economic opportunity, peace and security, democracy, and human rights and governance. The Activity builds and disseminates PYD evidence across multiple sectors; offers leadership in promoting PYD best practices; and provides rapid response, technical assistance to USAID staff to design, implement, and evaluate youth engagement.
YP2LE activities are designed to examine the impact of cross-sectoral youth programming, in collaboration with USAID, YouthPower implementing partners, PYD researchers, youth-led and youth-serving organizations, individual young change-makers, and other relevant stakeholders (e.g., USAID Washington-based instruments and country-level implementation mechanisms; other donors; U.S. government agencies; local and international civil society organizations; host-country governments; and multilateral agencies). The goal of these activities is to give practitioners the information, tools, and resources they need to develop high-quality, impactful, and sustainable youth programs, allowing empowered youth, working with supportive adults, to create sustainable change in individuals and systems through a four-pronged approach.
Research
Starting with the task of building cutting-edge, relevant PYD evidence, YP2LE brings together prominent researchers to answer the questions in USAID’s PYD Learning Agenda and other youth development learning agendas, aggregating priority themes and developing research and technical reports, guidance, and learning products on the results. Some examples include Cost Analysis for Positive Youth Development, the Youth Civic Engagement Country Dashboard, and the Literature Review of PYD Impacts on Marginalized and Vulnerable Youth.
Learning Network
At the same time, YP2LE creates a vibrant Learning Network that engages a variety of relevant global stakeholders (including local, nontraditional partners and youth) to unlock collaborative learning and transform mindsets through innovation to improve skills, practices, and partnerships around international cross-sectoral PYD. The network strengthens public-private, multi-donor, and multi-stakeholder partnerships around PYD and engages young people. Some regular YP2LE events include the Communities of Practice meetings and webinars on various topics, such as recent toolkits, trainings, and publications.
Digital Platforms and Champions
YP2LE activities generate actionable knowledge, which is accessible both through our state-ofthe-art learning and exchange platforms and through young changemakers, who amplify PYD lessons throughout their communities and networks. These actions are visible on our platforms and through discussion groups on YouthPower.org and YouthLead.org.
Rapid Response Technical Support
YP2LE works collaboratively with missions and operating units, through a highly flexible buy-in mechanism, to develop and implement a scope of work with a PYD lens. This technical assistance can include performing country youth assessments (e.g., the Eastern and Southern Caribbean Cross-Sectoral Youth Assessment, the Ghana Youth Assessment) and activity design and evaluation (e.g., the Global LEAD toolkit, the Youth Center Toolkit). The YP2LE team also provides advice on how to engage with youth and youth-led and youth-serving organizations as well as build the capacity of local institutions to design and conduct assessments and evaluations (e.g., Opportunities for Youth Employment in the Health and Social Sectors and Mozambique report, Youth Assessments 101 Brief).
YouthPower Phase 2: Project Implementation
YouthPower: Implementation focuses on the design and implementation of PYD programming and policies; capacity-strengthening of youth-serving institutions, including governmental and civil society organizations; and promotion of increased youth engagement in development efforts.
YouthPower Phase 2 projects include:
CREDIBLE - Voces de la Juventud, IREX, Central and South America
Integrated Youth Activity / Kefeta, AMREF Health Africa, Ethiopia
Research in Education for Transformative Opportunities (RETO), International Rescue Committee (IRC), Central America
St. Lucia ConnectEd Activity, World Education, Inc., St. Lucia
Youth Development Activity, The QED Group LLC, Turkmenistan
Youth Excel, IREX, Global
Project Leadership Team:
For public inquires and additional information, please email info@youthpower.org
Christie Scott
Project Director
Stephanie Schmidt
Knowledge Management Advisor
Dr. Christy Olenik
Lead Technical Advisor
YouthPower.org
YouthLead.org