Annex A: FHI 360 Global Youth Development Framework

Annex A: FHI 360 Global Youth Development Framework

1. FHI 360’ Youth Development Ecosystem Framework

FHI 360’s conceptual framework for a systemic approach to youth development in the developing country context centers on ensuring all youth have the opportunity to reach their full potential and contribute to the well-being of their family, community, country, and world. Thus, our framework is built around an understanding the complex systems that affect all aspects of youth development—from access to social networks that support positive youth development to the institutions that support both attached and unattached youth from adolescence through early adulthood. In total, FHI 360 has identified seven key components of a systemic approach to youth development, summarized below:

Figure 1: FHI 360’s Framework

a. Opportunities

Human Capital

FHI 360 views human capital as the set of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors required to allow youth to become productive economic and social contributors to their communities, countries, and regions. In many developing countries, however, education systems are misaligned with the needs of the labor market, educational institutions have yet to adopt modern teaching and learning methodologies, and opportunities for hands-on learning are minimal, resulting in high levels of dropouts. When youth do complete secondary schooling, youth entering the workforce are often unprepared to meet the real needs of the economy. Formal education systems must improve in conveying their relevance to the labor market and to youth as individuals. Once outside of the formal school system, youth require second chance opportunities to obtain the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will enable them to earn a living and feel valued. Schools, out-of-school programs, and other venues for supporting youth’s capacity to contribute to their environments must also create a sense of membership and commitment, help convey new norms and expectations for youth behavior, and provide meaningful opportunities for youth and adults to develop positive relationships.

Human capital encompasses a range of physical, emotional and intellectual capabilities that allow young people to become productive economic and social contributors to their communities, countries, and regions. The increasing liberalization of trade and commerce, and the massive flow of information and ideas across nation states, enabled through rapidly changes in information and communication technologies, have radically changed the how young people live, work, learn, communicate with each other, entertain themselves, and engage with economic, socio-political and environmental issues.

The changing nature of human capital generation provides unprecedented opportunities for wealth accumulation in some countries: in fact, many of the widespread technology applications that have shaped our lives in the 21st century were designed and developed by young people themselves. However, developing countries are experiencing particular challenges in adapting to new modalities of human capital formation, and inequities between the rich and poor have widened in many, threatening the social cohesion of nations. Poorly educated young people in many countries have not reaped the benefits of these 21st century developments. Lacking value-added human capital in an increasingly flat world (Friedman, XXXX), youth in many countries do not have the capabilities to compete successfully against a global pool of qualified professionals even in their own countries, further exacerbating their feelings of frustration and alienation.

A high quality and relevant education is key to providing youth with the confidence, skills, entrepreneurial know-how, leadership, positive attitudes and technical know-how to succeed. Building the human capital of young people to succeed in the new knowledge-based society requires intentional interventions at the policy at the programmatic level across many areas/sectors, including health, education, leisure, and the economy.

Education systems are misaligned with the needs of the labor market, educational institutions have yet to adopt modern teaching and learning methodologies, and opportunities for hands-on learning are minimal, resulting in high levels of dropouts. When youth do complete secondary schooling, youth entering the workforce are often unprepared to meet the real needs of the economy.

Formal education systems must improve their relevance to the labor market and to youth as individuals. Once outside of the formal school system, youth require second chance opportunities to obtain the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will enable them to earn a living and feel valued. Schools, out-of-school programs, and other venues for supporting youth’s capacity to contribute to their environments must also create a sense of membership and commitment, help convey new norms and expectations for youth behavior, and provide meaningful opportunities for youth and adults to develop positive relationships.

Examples: Adjust tertiary educational institutions’ entrance requirements and offer accelerated learning courses for secondary school drop-outs to reintegrate into the formal education system. Create student-based conditional cash transfers or vouchers to motivate out-of-school youth to continue their education.

Social Capital

Access to positive social networks through family, community, social, educational and professional levels have been demonstrated to have a significant impact on youth success, and global levels allowing youth access to support and opportunities. As illustrated in Robert Putnam’s landmark work, Bowling Alone, human beings—particularly youth—thrive when they connect in a positive, meaningful, and fulfilling way. Conversely, disaffected youth are frequently lacking this critical piece of healthy youth development: a positive connection to their home communities—extended family, schools, religious institutions, local businesses, social clubs, and sports teams. FHI 360 youth development framework places significant emphasis on providing youth with the social networks they require in order to support their personal and professional development along positive pathways.

Social capital refers to the formal and informal networks of relations that young people possess which allow them to access markets, benefit from opportunities, and make use of individualized support systems. A positive social capital is critical for the professional growth of young people and to their socialization.

In many countries, access to opportunities continues to be determined by many factors, such as gender, religion, family background, income, and race. In many societies, such as those in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where businesses are mostly family-owned, access to the labor market is largely determined by linkages to the family--even for youth with high levels of education. Who the youth know is as important as what they know in these societies. Although formal intermediaries exist to facilitate youth transition into the labor market, access to rewarding careers continues to be filtered through social networks. Without value-added social networks, youth from poor backgrounds are often trapped in negative networks of relations, such as gangs, that further diminish the value of their social capital.

While building the human capital of young people is critical for providing them with the capabilities to success in an increasingly complex work, expanding their social capital allows them to further strengthen their human capital, and benefit from an expanded set of opportunities. In other words, in absence of value-added social capital, human capital can only take you so far.

Financial Capital and Markets

The set of financial resources available for youth to pursue personal and professional goals through education and business entrepreneurship.Success often requires access to financial capital for youth to pursue their innovative entrepreneurial ideas, obtain basic or advanced skills training to become employable, or otherwise become economic contributors. However, access to capital for youth is complicated in developing and development countries around the world. Banks frequently are reluctant to lend to individuals without some form of collateral and/or a successful business track record, and, thus, traditional financial products may not be accessible to youth. Designing new financial products and services (e.g., group lending and savings, micro-credit, etc.) that meet the needs of youth while also building their business skills and ensuring they fully understanding their financial obligations is critical to supporting the entrepreneurial potential of youth.

The combination of efficient markets and sound government policies can have major impacts on outcomes for youth. They form a major component of the youth development ecosystem. Efficient markets expand the opportunities available for youth both on the supply- and demand-side, and create the condition for wealth creation and poverty reduction by rewarding entrepreneurship and risk-taking. Unfortunately, markets are not often efficient and large segments of the population, especially youth from poor backgrounds living in the rural areas, do not benefit from the markets, because of lack of access to information, weak demand, poor capacity, etc. However, as the expansion throughout the world of low-cost information and communication technologies, especially cell phones, has shown, the poor (the majority of whom are young) constitute lucrative markets when the products fit their needs and purses, opening new unprecedented opportunities for job creation and poverty reduction.

Labor Market: For many reasons, such as lack of access to information or lack of relevant skills, youth from poor and vulnerable backgrounds do not often benefit from the opportunities available in the labor market. The education systems are many parts of the world have failed to provide youth with the value-added human capital that they need to transition into the formal labor market.

Financial Market: The set of financial resources available for youth to pursue personal and professional goals through education and business entrepreneurship. Success often requires access to financial capital for youth to pursue their innovative entrepreneurial ideas, obtain basic or advanced skills training to become employable, or otherwise become economic contributors. However, access to capital for youth is complicated in developing and development countries around the world. Banks frequently are reluctant to lend to individuals without some form of collateral and/or a successful business track record, and, thus, traditional financial products may not be accessible to youth. Designing new financial products and services (e.g., group lending and savings, micro-credit, etc.) that meet the needs of youth while also building their business skills and ensuring they fully understanding their financial obligations is critical to supporting the entrepreneurial potential of youth.

Housing Market: For many older youth (24 and above), the transition into adulthood and the constitution of a family are hindered by inefficiencies in the housing markets. Although potentially a very lucrative market, social housing, specifically geared to youth, is a rare commodity in many parts of the world. Lacking the collateral to secure a loan, youth are forced to delay family constitutions, triggering serious social and psychological problems, especially in conservative communities.

Role of the global private sector:Global corporations have often invested in youth around the world through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm, which has complemented local government investments in youth development. Recently, new models of private sector involvement in low-cost labor countries have begun to emerge, shifting from a charity mode to a strategic one. Many corporations have begun to view the capacity building of youth in the technical and management areas as critical for improving the products and services along the value-chain, which has an impact on the corporate bottom line. In other words, for corporations, investing in youth in development countries is not just a worthwhile global cause, but an important strategy for generating wealth for the corporation.

Civic Participation and Leadership

Youth in developing countries around the world frequently feel disenfranchised and disempowered to make a difference in their communities, regions and nations. As a result, civic participation among youth—whether at the community or national level—is generally low, and youth are often unaware of their basic civic rights and responsibilities. The reasons are multiple, ranging from cultural traditions that view youth as unequipped to contribute to their communities to economic and educational barriers to civic participation. However, research clearly demonstrates that youth who are engaged in the lives of their families, communities and environments are more likely to become healthy, productive and engaged young adults. Community connection tends to make youth more conscious of their future and how they can shape it.

FHI 360 has found that developing real, meaningful ways to engage youth in their communities provides youth with a sense of responsibility, influence, and investment in their future while breaking down inter-generational stereotypes. Our youth development framework, therefore, considers opportunities for civic participation as a critical component of fostering a positive youth development ecosystem.

b. Enablers

Institutions and Organizations

Throughout the continuum of youth’s lives, their ability to succeed is impacted by a myriad of institutions and organizations, ranging from formal institutions such as government ministries and agencies concerned with youth issues (e.g., Ministries of Youth, Sports, Labor, Education), schools, religious institutions, and youth clubs to informal organizations such as community sports leagues and CSO-led youth engagement programs. Systemic approaches to youth development must carefully consider the capacity of these institutions to support positive youth development and, where needed, include capacity building and behavior change interventions to ensure institutions fully appreciate and incorporate the accepted principles of positive youth development in the local context and their institutional/organizational role in supporting youth.

Youth serving organizations (YSOs) are a key element of an effective youth development ecosystem. YSOs may focus on advocacy for youth, the provision of direct services (e.g., health, educational services, job placement), awareness raising, social mobilization and civic engagement, etc. YSOs play a major role in building the capacity of youth to benefit from the opportunities available in the market, or addressing the needs not covered by government programs. YSOs’ “intermediation function” is critical for ensuring that poor and vulnerable youth have a “fair shot” at opportunities.

Physical and Virtual Space: A Space of their Own

Space is another critical requirement of a positive youth development ecosystem. The physical/cyber, political, social and cultural space available for youth to express themselves, affirm their identity and engage in civic activities. Healthy youth ecosystems offer youth with safe spaces to gather, whether formally or informally, and learn from one another and engaged adults. Examples of such spaces include schools that are open to broader community events after classes have been completed for the day, youth clubs, sports facilities, youth-oriented NGOs, religious institutions and, increasingly, internet cafes and similar institutions. Importantly, youth-friendly spaces are no longer only physical. Increasingly, youth spend greater amounts of their time on-line and engaged in social networking activities. Thus, finding avenues to engage youth virtually is increasingly important. A last consideration of space is the cultural—youth must be provided with the space in their communities to express themselves, affirm their identity and engage in civic activities.

The availability of space is another important element of the youth development ecosystem. Trapped usually in slums and crowded neighborhoods, vulnerable youth have little space available for them to play sports, engage in creative cultural activities, or organize to address their problems.

Many countries have established Ministries of Sports and Culture to create and manage such spaces. However, these ministries very often weak, and lack the resources to establish centers or run the existing ones meaningfully. The challenge is especially true in urban areas, where the cost of real estate is high and government investment in such spaces is very low. Paradoxically, the government owns schools and community centers, which can potentially serve as youth spaces, but because the sectoral focus of these spaces, they are rarely open after-school or in holidays for youth-related activities.