The UN’s International Year of Youth [8] reminds all of us in the development community of the value of youth contributions to a vibrant civil society, to good policy development, and to bringing our world closer together. In addition, the Year reminds us that youth also will be the entrepreneurs for tomorrow; their creativity, with our help, must assure employment for a large percentage of the world’s population.
To celebrate youth and their achievements and to promote authentic inclusion of youth at all levels of development and job creation, we have been featuring over the past weeks inspiring stories about those young women and men whom we are fortunate to serve. In addition, our in-house youth experts have shared their personal journeys and thoughts on working with youth around the world. I’ve enjoyed learning more about our work with these young leaders, and I invite you to do the same.
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak at the Society for International (SID) Development World Congress [9], hosted for the first time in over two decades by SID-Washington [10]. My panel addressed the topic of Democracy, Governance and New Social Contracts: Lessons Learned about the Relationship between Democracy and Development. My colleagues on the panel brought the perspectives of the politician and the democratic reform practitioner. The IREX focus was on the seminal role that youth must play in democratic reform – with specific reference to the lessons of the Arab Spring. For us that lesson is clear: youth are an asset, not a liability, for social progress and must be developed and encouraged in leadership roles.
Despite the ever-growing recognition of the vital role that youth need to play on the local, national, and global stage, the challenge of actually ensuring genuine youth inclusion remains. That’s why, a year ago, IREX established a Youth Community of Practice, to consolidate our organization’s vast knowledge, experience, and resources around youth in development and youth development.
This is part of a larger ongoing effort in which IREX staff self-identify their experience and interest in gender [11], conflict resolution [12], youth [13], and/or technology [14]. While each Community of Practice has its own priorities, all of them are sharing best practices across IREX programs and engaging in discussions with outside experts and organizations on the latest thinking in their respective fields. We anticipate that these efforts will make our programs even more effective in theory and most importantly in practice.
Again, I hope you continue to read some of the IREX blogs and stories of the past month focused on youth. Below are some that have personally inspired me
Blogs:
-Youth Without Borders [15]
-Youth + Technology = Transformation [16]
Stories:
-Through Exchange, Youth Erode Age-Old Barriers [17]
-Somali Youth Spreads the Word About Peace [18]