“How much influence do you believe you have on youth?” asked the trainer at the third session of IREX’s Positive Youth Development (PYD) Course. The participants lined up according to how much influence they thought they had, and one participant, Svetlana Irgasheva, quickly moved to the far end of the line indicating the most influence. Her assertion was accurate—as a leading specialist in the Department of Youth Physical Culture and Sport in the small town of Kotovsk, Svetlana is in a position to positively impact the lives of local youth.
Eight months ago, Svetlana was struggling to revive youth government in her community. She was facing hurdles because she forced the young people to sign up, instead of facilitating the development of their interest in the project. The young people—ages 14-26—some of whom were unsure of why they were picked for the training, did not display a great deal of interest in participation. Many of them quit.
Then Svetlana decided to attend IREX’s course on PYD, an approach in which adults treat young people as partners and as a resource to be developed, rather than as a problem to be solved.
Once youth find a positive environment where they feel secure, they can flourish and develop the competencies needed to become successful adults and engaged citizens. In order for PYD to succeed, adults working with youth need to understand that their role is one of facilitation, and that they must create a safe, inclusive atmosphere, where youth feel free to develop their own ideas and even make mistakes. During the course, participants learned not only how to interact with young people, but also how to include them in all project management phases, from design to implementation and even evaluation.
Although many of the ideas and practices were foreign to Svetlana, she worked to incorporate them into her daily interactions with youth and share them with her colleagues. “At first, implementing PYD was challenging, but after all of the sessions, my ideas and approach have changed,” she said. “We are trying to change our ways.”
This change can be seen in her approach to developing youth government. Young people are now at the center of her work. She helped organized the event “Corridors of Power,” which gave young people the opportunity to meet with government officials and suggest solutions to issues that youth face. Thanks to that event, young people in her community now believe that they can effect change and feel more comfortable interacting with adults. Those young participants are also excited to use their newfound confidence and skills as representatives in the youth government.
Svetlana is currently facilitating input from young people on the ideal structure and procedures for the youth government body and hopes to have it up and running in a few months.
IREX developed the PYD course as part of the USAID-funded Youth Development Competencies Program [7] (YDCP), which in its fourth year aims to strengthen youth policies and position young people at the center of youth programming by promoting the type of systemic, skill building, programs advocated by PYD.