youth for change

The extraordinary power of youth to change their own worlds and the world around them strikes me anew every day.I see this power manifest in diverse forms and settings – from the Russian program participant who created a break-dancing school to engage at-risk youth in her small town, to the two teenagers from MetroTeenAIDS who, last week, addressed more than 70 international development professionals about their role in educating thousands of other youth in Washington, DC, about STDs and HIV testing.

This month, IREX is beginning the USAID/IREX Youth for Change: Building Peace in Rwandan Communities (Y4C) project. I met with Shannon Bruder, who will be managing the project, to get more information about the project’s goals and the current situation in Rwanda.