Giving Youth a Voice: Bangladesh Youth Survey

Before launching the survey, IGS held a regional planning workshop in Colombo in November 2011 that brought together 40 South Asian participants, the majority of whom were academics. Following the study, IGS organised an international conference in March 2012 that convened international and regional scholars, as well as policymakers and development partners with an interest in learning about youth.

The survey methodology is explained in detail within the report that emerged from the survey: Giving Youth a Voice: Bangladesh Youth Survey [PDF]. In brief, the survey followed a structured questionnaire that contained thematic sections as well as a household roster with demographic and economic information. To explain the process that led up to this, a questionnaire was designed by the IGS research team during autumn 2011, in English. After being discussed with an academic advisor, it was translated and (re-translated) into Bangla, and a pre-testing of the questionnaire was carried out in mid-November. In addition, IGS discussed the draft questionnaire during a regional planning workshop in Colombo and incorporated the discussions and suggestions made by our colleagues from Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal. The survey itself was conducted by Nielsen Bangladesh. As a first step, the company conducted a one-week training course, which consisted of both classroom training and field trials. After this training, the skills of the interviewers were evaluated, and they were allowed to join the field teams, if found satisfactory.

Communicating the findings of this research and engaging policymakers in dialogue about it about issues, such as the following communication-related data, is the second component of the initiative:

• "When asked about the major sources of information regarding the state, youth have pointed out the importance of newspaper and TV news."
• Approximately 85% of youth surveyed have mobile phones, "a substantial increase even when compared to our last year's Governance Barometer Survey (at 70 per cent) or the British Council's 'Next Generation' (73 per cent)....At the same time, computer utilisation and internet utilisation have remained dismally low, and highly socially exclusive as they are mainly used by higher income groups only."
• "When asked about what the state could do to support young people, a large majority (of more than 5,000 among the 6,575 respondents) opted for 'improve the quality of education' as a first priority. Other aspects were to create more job opportunities for the youth, although this was mainly given as a second priority."

To support a policy dialogue, IGS is including policymakers, development partners, and academics, at both the national and regional level. For the national network, this includes ministries engaged in youth affairs. From the development partners, this network includes United Nations Development Program (UNDP)'s Democratic Governance Cluster and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Dhaka. In addition, other organisations, such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), such as Action Aid, are participating in discussions not only about the survey findings but also conversations highlighting policy briefs written by IGS that address policy areas that are of particular relevance to youth.

The third component of this project was to set up a regional network in South Asia. The rationale for doing so was to tap into the knowledge base of colleagues who have undertaken similar studies in the South Asian region, as well as in the Arab region. After completing the survey, in March 2012, IGS co-organised a joint regional conference with Colombo University's Social Policy Research and Analysis Centre (SPARC). The conference brought together international and regional scholars (from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, and Germany), as well as policymakers and development partners with an interest in analysing youth practices from the vantage point of social and political science. Then, this network conducted a regional conference on youth issues, held in Nepal in March 2013. "As a sign of how this initiative might inspire others, a similar study to Bangladesh's youth survey has also been undertaken in Nepal in order to learn more about the country's youth."

Youth, Governance.

According to IGS, despite the country's young demographic (the median age is 24), "until recently its policymakers have paid little attention to youth. Though a national youth policy was drafted 10 years ago, it has yet to be approved. In addition, the Department of Youth Development, tasked with overseeing services for youth, receives a very small share of the national budget."