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Archives for Youth

New USAID Policy on Youth in Development

Posted by  on Thursday, November 1st 2012     

Those of us who are parents know that the sun and moon rise around our children. To those of us who are in development, we know that young people have the strength to move the sun and the moon… and sometimes more.

Young boy stenciling the USAID logo on a wall.

The new USAID Policy on Youth in Development empowers and engages youth to become more active participants in global development. Photo: David Medina, Alianza Joven Honduras

USAID recently launched the Agency’s first Policy on Youth in Development to make young people a driving force in our development. I am excited about this, because it creates a specific place for youth as partners and leaders in global development—and this, in turn, can help us achieve sustainable results for their families, communities and countries.

Young people must be front and center in development throughout the world. They are critical to alleviating poverty with economic growth, fighting disease and defending human rights. They are also an essential part of promoting peaceful democracy, protecting the planet and fostering innovation. Think back to the Arab Spring and more often than not, it was the determination of youth that inspired us.

I saw this first hand as Mission Director in Colombia, where engaging and preparing young people was a central tenet of our approach to citizen security. Whether it was retraining youth after demobilizing them from an illegally armed group or supporting the internally displaced, youth were critical to achieving larger development objectives.

The new Youth in Development Policy strengthens our commitment to elevate the voices and power of young people in all aspects of our work. They will be a central component in all development planning.

I recall Secretary Clinton’s recent words, “With more than half the global population under the age of 30 years and with the vast majority residing in developing countries, young people are at the heart of today’s great strategic opportunities and challenges.”

I am heartened by USAID’s new Youth Policy because it takes these sentiments one step further and makes young people a driving force in our development throughout the world.

Youth in Development joins a series of policies on important issues such as gender equality, climate change, and violent extremism that USAID has recently created to direct us and our missions’ focus in the strategic planning process. 

Live at UNGA – Day Three

Posted by  on Thursday, September 27th 2012     

To see the online conversation at UNGA, visit USAID's Storify Feed

Day three at UNGA included two marquee events spotlighting progress to date on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.  We also announced a new partnership to expand access to contraception for 27 million women and girls in low-income countries.

With only 15 months until the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadline, USAID partnered on an event with the UK Department for International Development for a second year to draw attention to the importance of the global community working together to reach the MDG targets by 2015.  The event brought to life the enormous development advancements made on the way to achieving the MDGs and featured innovators from across the development community sharing transformative programs and policies.  The world has met two MDG targets ahead of the 2015 deadline – poverty has been cut by 50 percent globally and the proportion of people with no safe drinking water has been cut in half.

That afternoon, Administrator Shah co-hosted with other G8 members the New Alliance: Progress and the Way Forward event.  President Obama announced the New Alliance for Food Security & Nutrition earlier this year, in which G8 nations, African partner countries and private sector partners aim to help lift 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa out of poverty in the next 10 years by supporting agricultural development. Initially launched in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania, at the event, representatives from the New Alliance, G8 countries and the private sector announced the expansion to other African countries, including Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and Mozambique.

Finally, Administrator Shah took part in the UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children. Prior to the meeting, Dr. Shah joined the Commission Co-Chairs, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway and President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, alongside former President Bill Clinton, to launch a new partnership to make a safe, effective, long-acting, reversible method of contraception available to more than 27 million women in the world’s poorest nations. Under the agreement, Bayer is reducing by more than half the current 18 USD price of its long-acting, reversible method of contraception, Jadelle, in return for a commitment to assure funding for at least 27 million contraceptive devices over the next six years.  Dr. Shah stated, ”The US Agency for International Development is proud to have funded the development of this life-saving product. Today is a major step forward to making this product more accessible to millions of women, empowering them with the ability to make decisions about their health and family.”

As always, follow us live on Twitter to keep up with the latest developments!

Equal Futures Partnership Advances Global Women’s Opportunities

Posted by  on Monday, September 24th 2012     

Sarah Mendelson is the Deputy Assistant Administrator for USAID's Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance. Credit: USAID

I am excited to have just returned from the kick-off of the Equal Futures Partnership to expand women’s opportunities around the world. The event was held in New York City and part of a number of events USAID is participating in during the United Nations General Assembly this week.

The world has made significant strides in expanding opportunity for women and girls; in the U.S., we just celebrated 40 years of Title IX, an act of Congress that changed the lives of many in my generation by enabling girls to have equal access to education playing sports. Equal access to sports in schools, particularly, taught many of us how to be fierce competitors and learn valuable lessons in team building.

Yet more work is needed to tackle the global gender inequality. Last week, I met in London with donors on this very topic where researchers discussed a number of startlingly facts:

  • In 2011, women held only 19 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide, while less than five percent of heads of state and government were women.
  • While in the past 25 years, women have increasingly joined the labor market, the World Bank’s 2012 World Development Report describes “pervasive and persistent gender differences” in productivity and earnings across sectors and jobs.
  • Though women are 43 percent of the agriculture labor force and undertake many unpaid activities, they own just a tiny fraction of land worldwide.

These realities demand an urgent response.

Building on President Obama’s challenge a year ago at UNGA, the United States government has partnered in a new international effort to break down barriers to women’s political participation and economic empowerment. The goal of the Equal Futures Partnership is to realize women’s human rights by expanding opportunity for women and girls to fully participate in public life and drive inclusive economic growth in our countries.

Through this partnership, the countries of Senegal, Benin, Jordan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Peru, Denmark, Finland, Australia and the European Union are all making new commitments to action, and will consult with national stakeholders inside and outside government, including civil society, multilateral organizations including UN Women and the World Bank, and the private sector, to identify and overcome key barriers to women’s political and economic participation.  This partnership promises to be groundbreaking not only for the countries involved but also for those who are watching its implementation.

USAID and its Center for Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance stands by to provide assistance to these countries as well as many others throughout the world as they work to advance women’s political participation and economic empowerment.

This is thrilling work that helps make the promise of development real for everyone–not just a privileged few.

New Issue of Frontlines: Youth and Technology

Posted by  on Wednesday, September 19th 2012     

frontlines banner graphic

Read the latest edition of USAID’s FrontLines to learn more about how the Agency is engaging youth around the world and how it is embracing mobile technology. Some highlights:

  • Looking to young minds for new ideas to old development challenges is producing fresh solutions. Just ask the young woman who is helping save newborns in Malawi with a jerry-rigged aquarium pump.
  • They’re opening small businesses, building environmental awareness and learning the ins and outs of politics from the village council to Parliament. Through youth-led community groups, more than 700,000 of Kenya’s young people are preparing to become their country’s next generation of savvy citizens and influential leaders.
  • SaysChris Locke: “The last two or three billion people in the world to access the Internet will do it via mobile phone.” Locke is the managing director of GSMA Development Fund, the development arm of the world’s largest mobile industry association. Read what else he has to say about the evolution of mobile technology in the developing world.
  • Before mobile banking came to rural areas of the Philippines, customers might take as long as six hours to journey to a bank branch to conduct business. Now it takes minutes and only their fingers do the traveling.

If you want an e-mail reminder in your inbox when the latest issue of FrontLines has been posted online, subscribe here.

Q & A: Youth Movement to Fight Violence in Honduras

Posted by  on Thursday, August 16th 2012     

Members of Jovenes Contra la Violencia. Photo: MJCV

We interviewed Jorge Santiago Avila Corrales, a 25-yr old honor roll student at the National University of Honduras, about security concerns and the role of youth in Honduras.  He is the country coordinator of the Movimiento Jovenes Contra la Violencia (the Youth Movement Against Violence).

Jorge Santiago Avila Corrales is the country coordinator of the Movimiento Jovenes Contra la Violencia. Photo: MJCV

1.     Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world. How has it affected you?

I am saddened by the fact that my brother is one of these statistics, since I lost him due to violence, and to know that the situation in Honduras is as it is. On the one hand, it makes me worry that future generations will have a very short life expectancy; on the other hand, I know that we young people are talented and have lots of good ideas, so we can effect change and highlight the good things about our country.

2.     You have chosen not to become a perpetrator of violence. Who or what helped you make good decisions as a youth?

My parents have played a fundamental role; with their examples and guidance I have moved forward. Although we had scarce economic resources, they always instilled in me good values and principles.  As the oldest of five siblings, I always had to be an example. Even living in the “hot spot” of Comayagüela, my desire for self-improvementkept me away from troubled groups and towards making decisions that brought me to where I am today.

3.     What led you to get involved in the Movimiento Jovenes Contra la Violencia?

I joined the Movement in order to implement a methodology to develop youth dialogues. I really liked the Movement’s inclusion of young people from different social strata, religions, and ideologies, and I liked that I, a simple youth from a marginal neighborhood, could coordinate an activity like that.  This shows that a youth fighting against violence can be anyone who wants to change his or her life and country, regardless of his or her background.

4.     With approximately half of Honduras’ population under 25 years old, how does the Movimiento make a difference in Honduras?

A young person makes the difference when he or she begins to dream and to fight to bring those dreams to reality. As young people, we have a lot of things to propose and we are intelligent.  In the Youth Movement against Violence, different talents come together and we channel them toward a common objective; our differences are secondary when the problem of violence is the main concern.

5.     The Movimiento has had many accomplishments. What are one or two of your favorites?

Bringing together Honduran youth to show that we are capable of great things when we fight together; we can reach

Screenshot of video. Click to view on YouTube

Jovenes Contra la Violencia recently held a video contest to help spread their message. In this winning video, Ewin raps about how peace can be transformative for Honduran youth.

great achievements. But definitely the greatest success is being able to give a voice to Honduran youth, bringing their proposals in front of decision makers and having credibility in society as a youth organization that is truly achieving a change in peoples’ attitudes nationwide. However, each of the activities that we have realized has been my “favorite”: the television program; the human chain in which hundreds of youth participated; our recent participation in the SICA [Central American Integration System] Presidents’ Summit this past June; and the concert “Singing No to Violence”; in sum, all of our activities are very appealing in that they have been planned by us, ourselves, with concrete goals and objectives.

6.     Honduras has a lot of challenges, especially in economic growth, democracy, and security. With the help of the Movimiento, what do you hope to see change in the next few years?

First, I would like to see a personal change in the lives of all Hondurans, where they accept that changing from a negative direction to a positive one is the responsibility of all and that youth are not the problem, we are a part of the solution. I also hope that more and better opportunities arise for work, education, health, living conditions, social and human security, and occupation of free time for youth, and that in this way we will focus on the prevention of violence. With prevention, economic improvement for Honduran families, and true democracy, violence will diminish considerably.

Photo of the Week: Youth in Tanzania

Posted by  on Wednesday, August 15th 2012     

The Tanzania 21st Century Basic Education Program, implemented by Creative Associates and the International Youth Foundation, features an e-curriculum to help improve curriculum-based learning for primary students. Photo Credit: International Youth Foundation

Celebrating International Youth Day

Posted by  on Sunday, August 12th 2012     

International Youth Day logoToday, August 12, we join the world in celebrating International Youth Day and honoring young people everywhere who act for progress, peace and prosperity.  In his video message commemorating IYD 2012, Administrator Raj Shah reminds us all that “with vision and passion, youth serve as vital change-agents in their communities and countries.”

As a global community, we face great shared challenges – poverty and unemployment, conflict, disease, climate change. With more than half the world’s population under the age of thirty, we know young people must be part of the solution.  This year, the UN themed this day “Building a Better World: Partnering with Youth.”  At USAID, we recognize that our success will come only if we harness the energy, talent, and opportunity in youth through innovation, participation and partnership.  In fact our forthcoming first-ever policy on youth issues is deliberately entitled “Youth In Development” to signal our commitment to young people as our partners and leaders.  Through our Development Innovation Ventures platform, we recently created a dedicated window for young innovators at home and abroad to bring us their ideas.

In addition to their ongoing activities to engage, support, and prepare young people, USAID Missions in all corners are marking International Youth Day with special events and activities.  In Jordan for example, youth gathered with USAID staff in Zai National Park for community service, learning, arts, and citizenship activities. In Kosovo, USAID officials joined the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports for a round table discussion with Kosovar youth that will inform the national government’s Youth Strategy, as well as our own Young Entrepreneurs Program.

While the sun will set on this IYD 2012, the spirit of partnership with and for youth will endure in our ongoing programs, policies, and dialogue.  Follow and engage with us at Youth Impact, on Facebook, and on Twitter using #USAIDYouth.

Dr. Nicole Goldin is Senior Advisor for Policy and Chairs the Agency’s Youth Policy Task Team

Meeting the Reproductive Health Needs of Young People

Posted by  on Sunday, August 12th 2012     

I first became interested in family planning and reproductive health during a class on health and developing countries in college. It was fascinating to me to learn how access to reproductive health has far-reaching health, economic, and societal impacts. However, I didn’t start focusing on the particular reproductive health needs and rights of young people until I studied abroad in northern Nigeria.  There, I met young women and men who had frighteningly incorrect information about sexuality, pregnancy, and HIV.  In the market, I saw 12- and 13-year-old girls who were dressed to advertise their eligibility for marriage, and I was told they would begin childbearing within the next year or two.  When I graduated from college and started in my position as a Policy Fellow in USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health, I brought these lessons with me.

We young people are often accused of focusing too much on ourselves.  But as the world’s largest ever generation of young people begin to enter their reproductive years, a focus on meeting the reproductive needs and rights of young people is well deserved. This Sunday, International Youth Day, gives us the opportunity to celebrate young people and reflect on their  diverse needs around the world.  Approximately 16 million girls between the ages of 15 and 19 give birth each year, and complications from pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death for this age group in developing countries.  Girls who become pregnant often face discrimination within their communities, drop out of school, and are sometimes forced into early marriage. Girls who become pregnant are more likely to have a lower income and have more children at shorter intervals throughout their lifetime. In contrast, young women who avoid unintended pregnancy are more likely to stay in school; participate in the work force; and have healthier, better-educated children.

In April, I had the opportunity to serve as a youth delegate on the US delegation to the UN Commission on Population and Development.  This year’s theme was adolescents and youth, and I’m proud of the bold outcome document adopted by member states.  It addresses the real needs of young people for comprehensive education about human sexuality; gender equality; and removal of legal, regulatory and social barriers to reproductive health information and care for adolescents.  The resolution also urges governments to protect, “the human rights of adolescents and youth to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health.”

Choices made about health-related behaviors and habits adopted during the transition years between childhood and adulthood can have either a positive or negative impact on future health and social well-being. Reproductive health constitute a key component of a healthy transition to adulthood, which is why USAID works across the globe to help improve education and access to youth reproductive health information and services. We are working  to harness the energies of young people as we  help them realize their full potential.  We see them as the future and want their valued  contributions  to and participation in the social, economic, political, and cultural life of their communities.

Major League Soccer Envoys Bring Olympic-size Excitement to Camp in Eastern Ethiopia

Posted by  on Thursday, August 2nd 2012     

Sports envoys Sanneh and Markgraf in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia with the teens they coached at a soccer camp sponsored by the US Embassy and Sports United to instill team work, tolerance, and discipline for teenagers from different regions and who rarely have an opportunity to interact. Sanneh, a retired Los Angeles Galaxy player, explained: “If kids can learn to stand in line, learn the rules of the game, it translates to the classroom and society”. Photo credit: Daniel Mesfin, US Embassy Ethiopia

Aug. 12 is International Youth Day, and this year’s theme is “Building a Better World by Partnering with Youth.” As an intern with USAID’s Outreach Program in Ethiopia, I recently spent a week working with 560 young people between ages 13 and 20 doing just that. I helped the U.S. Embassy’s Cultural Affairs Team run a weeklong soccer camp co-sponsored by Sports United and featuring two sports envoys from Major League Soccer: Tony Sanneh and Kate Markgraf.

The State Department’s sports diplomacy program sends American athletes around the world to transcend differences by engaging people with a shared passion for a sport. Forty-four percent of Ethiopia’s population is under the age of 15, so youth development is an integral part of Ethiopia’s development. When asked why he does sports diplomacy, Sanneh, a retired Los Angeles Galaxy player, said, “If kids can learn to stand in line, learn the rules of the game, it translates to the classroom and society.”

Growing up in the United States, I went to summer camp with that American notion of “roughing it.” At this camp however, the participants, coaches and volunteers came from Harar, Dire Dawa and Jijiga, areas of eastern Ethiopia that are susceptible to ethnic and religious tensions. Three hundred and fifty campers were Muslim, and 210 were Christian.

An Ethiopian boy balances one of the soccer balls donated by USAID Ethiopia on his head at soccer camp in Dire Dawa. Photo credit: Daniel Mesfin, US Embassy Ethiopia

As world attention turns to the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Ethiopian girls were coached and inspired on a daily basis by Markgraf, a three-time Olympian with two gold medals and one silver.  Markgraf remarked on her experience at the camp, saying, “The great thing about soccer is that it doesn’t matter where you come from, what color you are, what gender you are, it brings us all together.”

After the soccer clinics, the Embassy’s cultural attaché, Jason Martin, and staff led daily discussions on social values, peer pressure, American history and good environmental practices. At night the kids would compete as much as they did on the field during the day, dancing to popular Ethiopian music.

Ethiopian girls run with US Sports Envoy and Olympic champion Kate Markgraf during soccer camp in Dire Dawa. Photo Credit: Rahel Zewdu, US Embassy Ethiopia

On the last day, I asked a girl from Harar named Leyman Jirb Mume if she had had fun, and she said: “I am so happy that I was able to come to this camp and make friends from Jijiga and Dire Dawa. I would never have been able to do that without this program; it makes me so happy.”

For my part, I learned what “roughing it” really means. In addition to braving the scorching heat, many at this camp were very poor, but that didn’t dampen their enthusiastic participation: Some boys and girls even played in flip-flops or barefoot. Markgraf marveled at the level of excitement over soccer balls donated by USAID, saying:  “I think my most memorable experience has been seeing the excitement of the kids when they come off the bus and they each have a soccer ball to play with. We take that for granted in the U.S., but [here] it is something to have an inflated ball that is brand new; that excitement is something I have never seen.”

The Journey of Life for Children Living with HIV – From Diagnosis to Adulthood

Posted by  on Sunday, July 22nd 2012     

Not long ago, it was expected that children living with HIV would not survive to adulthood.  Today, children living with HIV are thriving through adolescence into adulthood, and doing so in large numbers.

Kids at the Regiment Basic School in Lusaka, Zambia -- of the Regiment School's 1,200 students, 300 are orphans. Children and adolescents living with HIV have a range of other essential needs that must be supported. Photo credit: Chris Thomas, USAID

Though effective antiretroviral treatment is allowing many to live long and healthy lives, living with HIV remains a complex burden for these age groups. Treatment, care and support needs are challenging and ever-changing.  Focusing on clinical services alone is insufficient.  Children and adolescents living with HIV have a range of other essential needs that must be supported.  They require psychosocial support, sexual and reproductive health education, alcohol and substance use counseling, and information on voluntary and safe disclosure, loss, grief, and bereavement.   Children and adolescents are often confronted with a multitude of emotions, questions, and concerns regarding the complexities of disclosure, their health, and their future.

PEPFAR, WHO, UNICEF, national governments, NGOs, organizations of people living with HIV, and others are working to support children living with HIV as they transition from childhood to adolescence and adulthood.

One of USAID’s foremost concerns is how best to support and address the unique health, psychological, and social needs of adolescents living with HIV as they transition into adulthood and into adult care environments.  Only an estimated 15% of HIV-exposed infants are identified and in southern Africa less than 12% those between 15 and 24 years of age have been tested and know their HIV status results.   USAID acknowledges the urgent need for age-appropriate HIV testing and counseling for children and youth to identify those that remain undiagnosed. 

With the participation of children and adolescents living with HIV in USAID programs, we continue to better understand how best to reach adolescents with the services they need.   For one, HIV remains highly stigmatized.  Children and adolescents living with HIV are confronted with complex challenges regarding disclosure with their peers and even family members.   They are in need of support to practice voluntary and safe disclosure, maintain treatment literacy and adherence, and have healthy relationships.

This is a historic moment in human history. We know what works in the effort to combat major killers of children and we are in a unique position to further reduce childhood all-cause mortality and virtually eliminate new pediatric HIV infections while keeping mothers healthy.

The focus on adolescents living with HIV is important to USAID and part of a greater initiative to meet the health needs of children.  For fifty years, USAID has been committed to improving child health.

In June, the Child Survival Call to Action challenged the world to reduce child mortality to 20 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births in every country by 2035.  Reaching this historic target will save an additional 45 million children’s lives by 2035.

Fifty-six governments and over 100 civil society partners committed to sharpening national plans for child survival, monitoring results, and focusing greater attention on the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children.

For children and adolescents living with HIV, we must manage their care with the desire and actions that show their self-worth including treatment and clinic adherence.  And let’s continue to prioritize meeting essential needs so children and adolescents can make a healthy transition into adulthood and a fruitful, productive life thereafter.

Join the USAID-sponsored International AIDS Society satellite:  Journey of Life for Children Living with HIV – From Diagnosis to Adulthood Sunday, July 22, 2012 from 9:00-11:00.

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