The United Nations recently criticized the Canadian Government for lacking a unified federal policy for child programming; lacking a clear strategy in the development of youth rights, opportunities, and initiatives; and averting accountability as there is no assurance that these programs are effective due to the absence of evaluative methods. The UN went on to highlight that addressing these issues in Canada is particularly important for “vulnerable” youth such as Aboriginal, black, immigrant, and disabled children. Youth- that being anyone between the ages of 15 and 24- have been greatly, if not completely excluded from research that informs public policy and planning, and barred from the opportunity to meaningfully participate in planning processes that affect their lives. This has left industry professionals with a large anomaly when it comes to ensuring inclusive, effective, and sustainable planning practices within communities. Of the limited research that has been conducted, the majority is largely focused on the cognitive capacities of young people when participating within the adult dominated realm of planning. Overwhelmingly, researchers discover that young people do in fact have the ability and motivation to effectively participate in planning...

The puq)ose of this thesis is to test a model Hnking community disadvantage and urbanicity factors to parenting variables (i.e., monitoring, warmth, and knowledge) and to youth risk behavior (i.e., substance use and delinquency), measured both concurrently and one year after the assessment of parenting variables. The model builds on the work of Fletcher, Steinberg, and Williams-Wheeler (2004) but a) includes a more comprehensive measure of SES than that conceptualized by Fletcher et al.; b) considers whether the role of community disadvantage is indirectly as well as directly linked to youth risk behavior, by way of its association with parenting variables; c) considers whether level of community urbanicity plays a direct role in predicting both parenting variables and risk behaviors, or whether its influence on risk behaviours is primarily indirect through parenting variables. Both community disadvantage and urbanicity had virtually no relation to parenting and risk behaviour variables. Results found for relations of parenting variables and risk behaviour were similar to Fletcher et al. Although urban youth are typically perceived as being more at risk for substance use and delinquency, no evidence was found for a distinction between urban and rural youth within this sample. Targeting risk behaviour prevention/reduction programs toward only urban youth...

The purpose of this exploratory study is to deconstruct dominant discourses of youth’s sexuality through the exploration of a cultural text. Patriarchal and immanent frameworks form the theoretical basis for a deconstructive textual analysis and systematic mise en scène analysis of the chosen text, the film, Thirteen (Hardwicke, 2003). I intend to explore the portrayal of youth sexuality by deconstructing discourses of sexuality that are simultaneously reflected and interrogated in the above mentioned media text. I have chosen this approach in order to deconstruct socially constructed ways of knowing and experiencing sexuality in order to uncover a multitude of possibilities for sexuality. In other words, this project will use deconstruction in order to reconceptualize sexuality.

It is unclear how the principles of meaningful consequences, fair and proportionate accountability, and rehabilitation and reintegration under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (2003) are understood and experienced by youth participating in diversion from youth court. Interviews with 20 youth revealed that, from their understanding, extrajudicial sanctions were viewed as accomplishing the goals of meaningful consequences and fair and proportionate accountability relatively well, but less emphasis was placed on rehabilitation and reintegration. The findings suggest that there may be a need an examination of the spectrum of responses available to youth under the umbrella of Extrajudicial Sanctions and their ability to achieve the key principles of the legislation. Implications for both youth and policy are addressed.

This research assesses the various aspects of Child and Youth Care (CYC) work and how relationships between child or youth and care provider are limited and constricted within greater political, social and historical contexts. Specifically, this research takes place internationally in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil within a favela (slum) and unveils the entangled and complex relationship that I, not only as an ethnographer, but also as a CYC worker had with the many young people that I encountered. It will address a variety of theories that demonstrate the potentials of reproducing oppressive relationships, and argue that it is imperative for CYC workers to critically reflect on the greater contexts in which their work is situated in order to gain forces with those young people whom they are attempting to serve.

This policy note, based on the Morocco Household and Youth Survey (2009-10), analyzes the aspirations of young Moroccans aged 15 to 29 years, their economic and social circumstances, as well as the institutional factors that hinder their economic and social inclusion. This study adopts a mixed method approach combining an innovative quantitative instrument with qualitative and institutional analysis. The goal is to provide policy makers with a nuanced analysis of barriers to employment and active civic participation that youth face, in order to come up with more effective youth interventions. A wide range of recommendations is identified to support youth inclusive activities and policies, and a roadmap for integrated youth investments. The study reviewed institutions and programs that offer diverse services to young people, including: employment, training opportunities, community participation, summer camps, sports, and recreational activities, which form the foundation for a comprehensive youth program in Morocco. An integrated package of measures aimed at both improving existing services and offering new ones to cover current gaps...

In partnership with the EYCG these institutions organized the capacity building workshop Youth: linking policy to participation, from November 23 to 27, 2007. The workshop was planned as a response to the needs articulated by EYCG members. But it also aimed to follow up the recommendations developed at the youth sessions of the fifth MENA Development Forum, held in April 2006 in Beirut. At this forum youth discussed obstacles and solutions for more youth participation in economic, social and political reforms in the region and the lack of knowledge on how to interact with decision makers was one of the key needs identified. To strengthen the exchange of local and regional experiences the workshop brought together members of Egyptian youth organizations and youth groups and youth representatives from youth organizations from Algeria, Jordan, Yemen and Djibouti. Objectives of the workshop: Provide youth organizations with knowledge on the conceptual framework and process of national policy development in general and on the potential of young people s participation in the process in particular. Provide skills and tools for channeling national youth participation in policy formulation...

Zambia is among countries with high HIV/AIDS prevalence, 16 percent among adult population aged 15 to 49 years. Prevalence among urban population is twice that of rural dwellers, 23 percent for urban and 11 percent for rural residents. Like other African countries, youth and women are the groups highly infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. As part of the scaling up effort, the World Bank (WB) commissioned a local consultant to undertake this exercise, focusing mainly on the capacity building needs of youth-serving organizations, civil society organizations, including youth organizations, sectoral ministries working on youth-focused HIV/AIDS initiatives. In this exercise young people and youth organizations were targeted as key sources of information. Specifically, the objectives of the assessment are: a) assess the current state of programming for youth-focused HIV activities in the country; b) determine the level of funding for youth-focused activities and effectiveness of youth-focused activities within the Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Programs (MAP) and other major HIV programs; c) identify factors that may foster or hinder attention to youth in the MAP and other HIV interventions; d) define priority capacity building needs among Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working mainly on youth-focused HIV/AIDS interventions; and e) identify potential implementing partners who will carry out capacity building activities. There is increasing recognition of the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS among youths and for this reason...

This report examines youth development in the Caribbean today. The objectives of the report are threefold, it aims to 1) identify the risk and protective factor and determinats of youth behaviors and development, 2) demonstrate that the negative behaviors of youth are costly, not only to the youth themselves but to society as a whole, and 3) identifies key intervention points for youth development, taking into account identified risk and protective factors for the Caribbean. For the purpose of the study, youth is defined as spanning the adolescent period from 10 to 24 years of age. Youth or adolescent development thus refers to the physical, social, and emotional processes of maturation from childhood to adulthood, with biological processes riving the initiation of adolescence and social factors largely determining the initiation of adulthood. The study uses an "ecological" framework to demonstrate the linkages between a) the under-lying risk and protective factors of youth behaviors, b) youth outcomes, and c) subsequent adult outcomes. It is termed "ecological" because the framework shows the relationship between the individual adolescent and his or her environment. Risk factors are those factors that increase the likelihood of experiencing negative outcomes. Protective factors counterbalance the risk factors.

Youth are becoming an increasing priority for countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Youth are an asset that if properly nurtured can stimulate the economic and social development of the region. Countries are searching for effective policies to capitalize on this youth asset and an increasing number of governmental and nongovernmental institutions in the region are involved in youth related-work. This report represents an initial attempt to assess the case for making investment in youth a systematic development priority for the region. It summarizes what is known about the challenges facing youth and the opportunities successful youth embody, and begins to consider the contours of promising cross-sectoral, youth-centered, and inclusive policies for the region and the potential role for the World Bank. It is a first step in the process of setting out the issues to encourage dialogue and discussion among policy makers leading to decisions and eventually actions. The report has two intended audiences. The first are policy makers in the region...

Africa’s population is young and growing at twice the pace of other continents. A youth bulge presents a series of development policy opportunities and challenges. In this context, simplistic linkages between the youth bulge, high unemployment, and fragility have gained traction and given rise to a youth policy agenda that targets urban male youth as the problem and emphasizes formal sector development as the solution. This paper questions some of the core assumptions that underpin mainstream perceptions of the linkages between youth, employment, and fragility in West Africa, and presents an alternative analysis. The study will use the language of livelihoods to reflect on youth employment experiences, as livelihoods take into account the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources), and activities required for a means of living beyond traditional ideas of employment, and thus enable a deeper, more sophisticated understanding of the realities of many young West Africans. The paper argues that a nuanced understanding of specific groups of young people and their livelihood activities in their specific social...

This paper examines the role that youth play in the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) programs and the focus that AusAID places on youth in Australia and overseas. It reflects the contributions that AusAID alone makes to youth and development. The paper follows the three-lens approach to youth participation. This approach was recently published in a youth study by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). This involves outreach programs that engage youth with the aim to increase their living standards, programs that work together with youth to implement programs and finally youth empowerment programs which aim to create engaged youth that will become the leaders of tomorrow (see Introduction). In Chapter 1 the paper examines the programs that engage Australian youth and seek support for poverty alleviation and MDGs. These programs raise awareness within Australia of international development and also encourage Australian youth participation in development programs. The following two chapters look at the two steps of the three-lens approach. The first step of youth participation, programs aimed at increasing the living standards of youth, are analysed in Chapter 2. This Chapter summarises a stocktake of all of AusAID' s programs targeting youth and analyses the results. The results are analysed in terms of the region that the program is located in and the topic area that it has been classified under. The paper then examines the second and third steps of youth participation: youth engagement in implementation and youth empowerment. It enquires into the role that youth abroad can play in the implementation of AusAID's programs and looks at programs that encourage youth to have their own voice and ability to impact development. It is argued that these programs are important to the sustainability of AusAID programs and important in helping AusAID meet their ultimate goal of creating sustainable development. The key findings of the paper are: • The various programs aimed at gathering Australian youth support for AusAID activities abroad should be maintained...

Youth employment issues are a major concern for many countries because they have negative effects on the welfare of young people, and may also adversely affect economic performance and social stability. This is the first Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) evaluation of the World Bank Group's support to countries trying to address youth employment issues. The World Bank lending portfolio for youth employment is relatively small, although components of programs appear in 57 countries. Most projects include interventions in skills development and school-to-work transition. Half of the projects include interventions to foster job creation and work opportunities for youth. International Finance Corporation (IFC) has a broad approach to job creation. Between FY01 and FY11 youth employment has not been specifically targeted, except in the Middle East and North Africa region and in a small number of other interventions. IFC invested $500 million to 50 investment operations and 18 advisory services to education. Although youth employment is addressed in the education...

This report examines youth in post-conflict Burundi. The research responds to the nascent but growing body of knowledge on conflict, young men and gender. War and violence have devastated societies and economies throughout Africa with young men being the main perpetrators of this violence. This research attempts to contribute to this body of knowledge. It looks at youth and young men in particular in two countries emerging from years of ethnic conflict, with a view to identifying if gender norms may increase the risk of renewed conflict. Specific objectives of the research in Burundi were to examine how poor and excluded youth are faring and coping in the country's post-conflict environment; how gender dynamics are playing out in Burundian society and how these may contribute to increased risk of renewed conflict; and what the implications of findings are in terms of future policy and programming. The study takes a special look at youth ex-combatants who are in the process of being reintegrated back into their communities...

Argentina's youth, 6.7 million between the ages of 15 and 24, are an important, but to a certain extent untapped, resource for development. Over 2 million (31 percent) have already engaged in risky behaviors, and another 1 million (15 percent) are exposed to risk factors that are correlated with eventual risky behaviors. This totals 46 percent of youth at some form of risk. Today's youth cohort is the country's largest ever and it's largest for the foreseeable future. If policymakers do not invest in youth now, especially in youth at risk, they will miss a unique opportunity to equip the next generation with the abilities to become the drivers of growth, breaking the intergenerational spiral of poverty and inequality and moving Argentina back into the group of high-income countries. If youth are educated and skilled, they can be a tremendous asset for development. If not, they can burden society and public finances. Overall, Argentina is blessed with high enrollment rates in school, low levels of crime and violence...

Community-driven development (CDD) is an approach emphasizing local control over planning and an investment resource offers important advantages for engaging young people. The World Bank's portfolio of CDD projects provides a rich repository of experiences of how this approach is being adapted to enhance the inclusion of young people. This paper synthesizes the findings of a global stocktaking on CDD and youth. The study draws from a universe of over 60 active, planned, or recently closed CDD youth projects across all regions in which the Bank operates. Significant diversity exists among these projects in terms of the extent of youth focus; size, scale, and scope; contexts and conditions to which they respond; and objectives and desired outcomes. Youth engagement is examined through three interlinked dimensions of youth development: (1) endowments or the accumulation of human capital assets; (2) employment and economic opportunities; and (3) empowerment, encompassing the concepts of participation, voice...

Trinidad and Tobago has experienced increasing social problems relating to its youth population despite the economy's improved performance. The report aims to uncover and analyze key issues facing the youths, explore a rationale for investing in youth development activities, review current services for youth, examine the existing and proposed policy and legislation relating to youth and capacity for its implementation, and propose interventions to reduce the risks faced by youths and increase the potential for social and human capital development. This report highlights the two principal exclusionary factors that contribute to increasing conditions of risk for youth in Trinidad and Tobago: a) restricted access to the secondary education system, which leaves out one third of the school-aged population; and b) the high level of unemployment, which reaches 30 percent for the 15 - 19 cohort, compared to 14 percent for the rest of the population. In addition, poverty, reduced family care, and exposure to youth protective services and the judicial system pose developmental risks that may contribute to negative outcomes such as youth involvement in crime and drug culture...

Addressing youth issues is essential to promoting stability and preventing violence in fragile and conflict-affected states. However, there is little evidence that youth programming and policies have helped reduce violence in these settings. This can reflect the lack of understanding about youth issues and how problems affecting them encourage their participation in violence. This study set out to understand youth violence in Liberia and Sierra Leone, two countries in which there has historically been a great deal of youth participation in group violence, where the risk of youth mobilization into violence persists, and where interpersonal and gender-based violence are still a concern. In addition to having young populations, both countries have governments that have emphasized improving youths' lives by both reducing poverty and preventing violence. In turn, programming and policies in these (and many other conflict-affected) countries tend to be focused on employment generation due to the assumption that youth become prone to violent behavior as the result of economic exclusion (their inability to achieve a stable source of livelihood). The findings from this study will be useful to help governments (particularly of fragile and conflict-affected states) and donors better understand youth issues...

Studying positive adolescent development requires an examination of the mutually beneficial associations between youth and their environment. These youthcontext relations include both the contributions that youth make to others and society and the youth-context interactions that might predict positive youth outcomes. Community and youth-serving organizations, where youth may be involved in decision-making roles such as service delivery, advocacy, or on boards of directors, can provide one important context for youth contributions and for positive adolescent development. Research on the outcomes of youth involvement in organizational decision-making, however, is limited, and largely consists of exploratory qualitative studies. This dissertation is formatted as an integrated article dissertation. It begins with a review of the literature on contexts of structured youth activities and positive youth development. This review is intended to describe theory on development-context relations, in which development is considered an interactive process that occurs between individuals and their contexts, as it pertains the positive development of youth who are involved in various structured activities (e.g., volunteering). This description follows with a review of current research...

Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE) were launched in October 2014 as a multi-stakeholder coalition to positively disrupt the youth employment landscape. S4YE is a partnership initiated by the World Bank, Plan International, the International Youth Foundation (IYF), and Youth Business International (YBI), RAND, Accenture, and the International Labor Organization (ILO) with a view to contributing to a world where all youth have access to work opportunities. The mission of S4YE is to provide leadership and catalytic action and mobilize efforts to significantly increase the number of young people engaged in productive work by 2030. It seeks to develop innovative solutions through practical research and active engagement with public, private and civil stakeholders, to enable solutions for all youth at scale. This inaugural report explores how S4YE can find and advance solutions to the challenges of getting all youth into productive work.