This brief looks at how countries are addressing vulnerable youth in their policies and programmes around the world. A multi-country research and policy-dialogue process on ‘Literacy and Life Skills Education for Vulnerable Youth’ was initiated in 2010. Two regional policy forums (one in Bamako, Mali and another in Cairo, Egypt in 2011) were held to gather evidence on how to effectively address the provision of literacy and life skills to vulnerable youth in policy design in view of increasing their participation. Together, the research yielded examples of relevant policies and programmes that are in place around the world.
Key Findings:
- There needs to be a shift in policy focus to make specific provisions for vulnerable youth, particularly in providing access to vocational and life skills training.
- Effective policies involve a variety of stakeholders with clear delineations of roles and responsibilities. These policies make youth everybody’s business.
- There are some noteworthy examples of making room for young peoples’ participation in relevant policy development and implementation, particularly through involvement in government-led task forces and ‘youth parliament’ platforms.
Recommendations:
- The review of the effective practices shows that despite diverse settings and contexts, the programmes have some common elements of practice: mapping vulnerable youth; embedding literacy with life skills and vocational education; and involving vulnerable youth at different stages of programme formulation.
- In order to increase participation of vulnerable youth, a favourable policy environment and well-targeted programmes are indispensable. NGOs’ active involvement in all phases of policy and programme development needs to be factored in to allow a more effective response to the diverse learning needs of vulnerable youth.
