Youth Development

The Cross-Sectoral Youth (CSY) Project is a multi-country EQUIP3 Associate Award that fosters collaboration across sectors (health, democracy & governance, education, environment, and economic growth) in order to meet the holistic needs of youth in developing countries. As a USAID intra-agency initiative, the project is designed to incorporate youth as a strategic priority within the U.S. Government foreign assistance framework while advancing USAID objectives.

Serving communities in the Three Areas, HEAR Sudan builds capacity of local stakeholders to plan, implement and monitor health and education services, helps translate this increased capacity into action, and builds community support for school governance and outreach. HEAR strengthens linkages between educators and health workers with the aim of increasing healthy girls’ and boys’ access to quality education.

The Social Legacy Program (SLP) reaches out to youth and other vulnerable groups in the Europe and Eurasia region, giving them the tools they need to become local leaders and promote social change. Due to widespread socio-economic insecurity and a dramatic collapse in basic social services, these groups face great barriers to finding work and gaining viable skills, while the region on the whole struggles to make the transition towards market-oriented, democratic societies.

The Youth Media Learning Network (YMLN) is a new capacity building and professional development initiative intended to strengthen the practice and expand the reach of youth media.

Most teens work by the time they graduate from high school. Although work can be a positive experience, it also has risks. Every year 100,000 teens are seriously injured on the job. To improve the safety of young workers, the center provides training for the staff of school and community-based job readiness and placement programs, preparing them to teach teens about occupational safety and health. The center also provides seminars, technical assistance, and resources to employers of youth and to other education and employment-related organizations serving youth.

The Universal Education Foundation (UEF) is an advocacy foundation that works in co-creative partnerships toward Education by All for the Well Being of Children. To this end, UEF conducted a Voice of Children survey of children and young people’s opinions, perceptions, and attitudes toward their learning environments. In addition, UEF is launching the Elham Inspiration Program to recognize and support significant contributions by individuals and teams that support the well- being of children in their learning environments.

EDC is commissioned by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to design, develop, and pilot test a Web site based on the Exploring humanitarian law (EHL) materials. Created to improve the efficiency and quality of the EHL program, the Web site will enable the ICRC to disseminate international humanitarian law among adolescents worldwide. The Web site will include online events, interactive content, and resource materials for teachers and teacher educators.

EDC offers youth development professionals and educators comprehensive services and resources for using technology to create exciting learning environments. Created by the Morino Institute and now led by EDC, YouthLearn provides user-friendly tools to help organizational leaders and staff start or strengthen afterschool and in-school programs.

The INTALEQ (INnovations in Technology-Assisted Learning for Educational Quality) project is a public/private partnership initiative that will help Yemeni students “step up” to the future by giving them a chance to master the types of skills necessary to flourish in the 21st century. INTALEQ (which means “step up” or launch in Arabic) offers a replicable model for leveraging the power and pull of technology, not just to teach computer and internet skills, but to improve core teaching and learning in Yemeni high schools, particularly in the essential areas of math and science.

The Bangladesh Youth Employment Pilot (BYEP) is an EQUIP3 Associate Award that focuses on the challenges and opportunities for improved vocational skills for youth in the fast-growing aquaculture industry. BYEP uses a youth-centered approach designed to add value to the golda (fresh water prawn) industry and provide education and employment opportunities for young women and men. The youth whom the BYEP project will place in work situations will also learn skills, such as literacy and numeracy, needed to support their long-term economic and social development.