Youth Development and Outreach Program - Latin America and the Caribbean
Created in 1995 by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Youth Development and Outreach Program seeks to promote the participation and leadership of Latin American and Caribbean young people in the development process. The purpose is to highlight the value that young people can play in the effort to build a region with stable democracies, sustainable economies, and equitable societies. By establishing alliances with the public and private sectors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and youth, the programme emphasises participation and leadership, entrepreneurial development, technology, and community service to the end of:
Activities include:
Youth.
- empowering young people to become involved in their personal development and that of their communities
- advocating youth development and participation as an integral part of development
- mainstreaming youth development and participation throughout IDB operations, and
- promoting inter-organisational partnerships to advance youth development and participation.
Activities include:
- Capacity building, which involves creating training initiatives and projects that develop the managerial, technical, entrepreneurial, and leadership skills of youth, so that they might become actors in the development process rather than the subjects of that process
- Facilitation of communication among youth in the form of a regional network of more than 12,000 youth leaders and social entrepreneurs actively engaged in socio-economic activities who serve as agents for development in their communities and countries
- In the area of outreach and communications, the creation of public awareness among the general public, government agencies, and the non-profit and private sectors on the contributions and value of youth participation and development. In addition, the programme develops communication tools and promotes best practices and model programmes of youth development through conferences, audiovisual materials, publications, television programming, press articles, a quarterly newsletter, and The Youth Development and Outreach Program website.
- Inter-organisational collaboration through:
- the creation of strategic alliances with public, private, and non-profit sectors to advocate for effective youth participation as agents for development in that region through information exchange, project collaboration, resource mobilisation, and dissemination of best practices
- promotion of the importance of Inter-American collaboration and inter-agency partnerships to better respond to the needs of youth
- representation of the IDB in the Inter-American Working Group on Youth Development (IAWGYD), a consortium of international donor agencies that supports new approaches to positive youth development and participation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Intra-agency mainstreaming, that is, the development of internal alliances with other departments and IDB Country Offices to integrate youth development and participation into the IDB's mission and project pipeline, and
- Policy advocacy and formulation that promotes a supportive policy environment for youth development and participation by engaging in policy formulation initiatives with other partners.
Youth.
Key Points
According to IDB, approximately 40% of the 500 million people living in Latin America and the Caribbean are younger than age 30. The majority of these young people will grow up during a time of social, economic, technological, and political changes that the IDB believes will have far-reaching implications for governments, economies, communities, and the environment.
The IDB was established in December of 1959 to help accelerate economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was created in response to a longstanding desire on the part of the Latin American nations for a development institution that would focus on the pressing problems of the region. The Bank's original membership included 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries and the United States. Today Bank membership totals 46 nations.
The IDB was established in December of 1959 to help accelerate economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was created in response to a longstanding desire on the part of the Latin American nations for a development institution that would focus on the pressing problems of the region. The Bank's original membership included 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries and the United States. Today Bank membership totals 46 nations.
Sources
Hard-copy material published by IDB; and IDB website.
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