YOUTH EMPOWERMENT

Youth empowerment is a process where children
and young people are encouraged to take charge
of their lives. They do this by addressing their
situation and then take action in order to
improve their access to resources and transform
their consciousness through their beliefs, values,
and attitudes. [1] Youth empowerment aims to
improve quality of life. Youth empowerment is
achieved through participation in youth
empowerment programs. However scholars
argue that children’s rights implementation
should go beyond learning about formal rights
and procedures to give birth to a concrete
experience of rights. [2] There are numerous
models that youth empowerment programs use
that help youth achieve empowerment. A variety
of youth empowerment initiatives are underway
around the world. These programs can be
through non-profit organizations, government
organizations, schools or private organizations.
Youth empowerment is different from youth
development because development is centered
on developing individuals, while empowerment is
focused on creating greater community change
relies on the development of individual
capacity. [3]
Empowerment movements, including youth
empowerment, originate, gain momentum,
become viable, and become institutionalized. [1]
Youth empowerment is often addressed as a
gateway to intergenerational equity, civic
engagement and democracy building . Activities
may focus on youth-led media , youth rights,
youth councils , youth activism, youth involvement
in community decision-making, [4] and other
methods.
Elements of
empowerment
Empowerment theory
Empowerment theory focuses on processes that
enable participation; enhance control through
shared decision making; and create opportunities
to learn, practice, and increase skills. [5][6]
Empowerment theory suggests that engaging
youth in pro-social, meaningful, and community-
enhancing activities that the youth themselves
define and control, helps youth gain vital skills,
responsibilities, and confidence necessary to
become productive and healthy adults. [7]
Types of empowerment
Youth empowerment examines six interdependent
dimensions: psychological, community,
organizational, economic, social and cultural. [1]
[8] Psychological empowerment enhances
individual's consciousness, belief in self-efficacy,
awareness and knowledge of problems and
solutions and of how individuals can address
problems that harm their quality of life. [1] This
dimension aims to create self-confidence and
give youth the skills to acquire knowledge. [8]
Community empowerment focuses on enhancing
the community through leadership development,
improving communication, and creating a
network of support to mobilize the community to
address concerns. [1] Organizational
empowerment aims to create a base of
resources for a community, including voluntary
organizations, unions and associations that aim
to protect, promote and advocate for the
powerless. [1] Economic empowerment teaches
entrepreneurial skills, how to take ownership of
their assets and how to have income security. [8]
Social empowerment teaches youth about social
inclusion and literacy as well as helping kids
find the resources to be proactive in their
communities. [8] Cultural empowerment aims to
recreate cultural practices and redefine cultural
rules and norms for youth. [8] Through these
dimensions of empowerment, programs can
work on empowering youth in one or more
aspects of their lives.
Goals of empowerment
Youth empowerment programs are aimed at
creating healthier and higher qualities of life for
underprivileged or at-risk youth. [1] The five
competencies of a healthy youth are: (1) positive
sense of self, (2) self- control, (3) decision-
making skills, (4) a moral system of belief, and
(5) pro-social connectedness. Developmental
interventions and programs have to be anchored
on these competencies that define positive
outcomes of healthy youth. [1]
Measurable empowerment
Over the last two decades, quality of life (QOL)
has emerged as an important unit of
measurement to evaluate the success of
empowerment programs. [1] It is used as a goal
of programs and as well as an indicator of
effectiveness. However, there is no standard
definition of QOL. A person's QOL is dependent
upon subjective evaluation of the individual
aspects of that individual's life. [1]
Positive development settings
Youth empowerment programs thrive in positive
developmental settings. Positive developmental
settings promote youth competence, confidence
and connections. [9] Two features of the positive
developmental youth settings are supportive
relationships and support for efficacy and
mattering. Supportive relationships are those that
are between youth and non-familial adults that
foster trust and respect. Support for efficacy and
mattering specifically focuses on youth being
active, instrumental agents of change in their
communities, collective decision-making and
adults listen to and respect their voice. [9]
Youth empowerment
programs
There are various types of empowerment
programs across the globe that empower youth
through many different tactics and programs.
Programs can operate in a variety of settings.
The majority of programs operate in more than
one setting, which may be a key factor in their
success. [10] The beneficial outcomes to youth
empowerment programs are improved social
skills, improved behavior, increased academic
achievement, increased self-esteem and
increased self-efficacy. [11]
There are programs are aimed at just
empowering women and young girls. Regardless
of specific goals or methods, empowering
effects include improving women’s wellbeing,
self-esteem, and self-efficacy, and enhancing
social status by teaching technical and
organizational skills. [8]
Other youth empowerment programs are focused
on poverty alleviation. Living standards are for
those living in poverty are declining causing
forms of deprivation as it relates to food,
resources and education. [12] Programs aimed at
empowering poor youth, work toward livelihood
protection or livelihood promotion. [12]
There are also empowerment movements that
use the social action model , aiming for
disadvantaged people to become empowered,
organized, and educated so that they may create
change. [1] These programs advocate for
constructive confrontations to enhance the social
power of people who are considered
disadvantaged. Another model is the 5C's model
that focuses on emphasizing competence,
confidence, connection, character and caring. [13]
A sixth C of contribution to society was later
added. [13] This model focuses primarily on
engagement as a key marker of positive youth
development, emphasizing the need to foster
initiative. Youth-adult partnerships are another
type of empowerment method used around the
world. This method has been defined as a
developmental process and a community
practice. The partnership involves people of
different ages working together on community
issues over a period of time. [9] The method
emphasizes reciprocity among adults and youth
with a focus on shared decision making and
reflective learning. The concept of shared control
is key for empowering youth.
Youth empowerment has also been used as a
framework to prevent and reduce youth
violence. [7][14] Research shows that these youth
empowerment programs can improve conflict
avoidance and resolution skills, increase group
leadership skills, and civic efficacy [14] and
improve ethnic identity and reduce racial
conflict. [15]
Examples of youth empowerment
programs
Around the globe there are various
empowerment programs focused on a wide
variety of things and this is not a comprehensive
list. Unsuccessful youth empowerment programs
have not been carefully documented or published
in case studies. [1]
In India, Youth Empowerment Foundation, a not
for profit organization is focused at uplifting the
underprivileged young generation of the society
right from providing them with basic education to
create a strong foundation for their careers, to
developing personality skills, because the youth
is the future of the country.
In Namibia, one popular empowerment program
is Pots of Hope. Pots of Hope's main goal is to
reduce the vulnerability youth to HIV and Aids
through education, information and awareness,
as well as income security projects. [16] Pots of
Hope works by educating, and providing
counseling to those in rural settings who do not
have access to those resources. [16] This
program focuses on organizational
empowerment within the community.
Youth participating in 4-H, a youth
empowerment organization primarily in
the United States.
Within the United States there are countless
empowerment programs for youth. Urban 4-H is
a culturally responsive, community-based
practice that authentically engages families,
youth and the community in the development of
youth. [17] Urban 4-H is an example of
community empowerment that focuses on the
economic and social dimensions of
empowerment. The program helps youth build
skills to enable them to overcome economic and
social barriers while recognizing the importance
of self-directed learning for youth. Urban 4-H
focuses on empowering youth to think critically,
communicate across cultural boundaries and
lead others. [17]
In India, youth empowerment has been taken up
by other organizations run by young people.
Young India Foundation has been working on
youth empowerment by directly engaging young
people and electoral politics, a first for an
organization to do in India. [18]
The United Nations has numerous development
programs, one of them being youth
empowerment programs. The United Nations
provides support to national policy development
surrounding empowerment within the five
regions. [19] They do this by providing evidence-
based policy guidance and programmatic
support by promoting the active participation of
youth in society. The UNDP promotes inclusive
youth participation in effective and democratic
governance, economic empowerment of youth,
strengthened youth engagement in building
resilience in their communities, inclusion of
youth in the future development agenda,
including through consultations and
discussions. [19] The United Nations youth
empowerment programs examine all four
dimensions of youth empowerment and seeks to
improve all of them.
USAID has youth empowerment programs set up
around the world that are aimed at civic
engagement, access to resources and
opportunities for education and employment. [20]
For a more comprehensive list: List of youth
empowerment organizations
Government
involvement in
empowerment
Youth empowerment is often addressed as a
gateway to intergenerational equity, civic
engagement and democracy building . Local,
state, provincial, regional, national, and
international government agencies and nonprofit
community-based organizations provide
programs centered on youth empowerment. [21]
Activities involved therein may focus on youth-
led media , youth rights, youth councils , youth
activism, youth involvement in community
decision-making, [4] and other methods.
Each major political party in the United States,
including the Republicans, the Democrats , and
the Green Party, as well as several major
European, African, South American (Peru), and
Australian political parties have statements
supporting youth empowerment. Youth
empowerment is also a central tenet of the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child, which every country in the world (minus
the United States and South Sudan ) has signed
into law.
United States
Youth empowerment occurs in homes , at
schools, through youth organizations , government
policy-making and community organizing
campaigns. Major structural activities where
youth empowerment happens throughout society
include community decision-making ,
organizational planning, and education reform.
Educational activities that cite youth
empowerment as an aim include student-
centered learning, popular education, and service
learning. Free schools and youth-led media
organizations often state their intention to
empower youth, as well as youth voice ,
community youth development , and youth
leadership programs. Youth empowerment is
studied by a variety of scholars including Shawn
Ginwright, Henry Giroux , Barry Checkoway, Mike
Males and Marc A. Zimmerman . Their research
is highlighted by advocacy from notable activists
such as William Upski Wimsatt , Alex Koroknay-
Palicz, Salome Chasnoff and Adam Fletcher.
Republic of Ireland
Main article: Comhairle na nÓg
In 2002 Comhairle na nÓg was established in
each local authority area as part of the National
Children's strategy. Comhairle na nÓg is Irish for
Youth Council. These councils are encouraged to
include the participation of young people from
all walks of life and to tackle local issues
affecting young people. It is run by the local
county or city councils under the Office of the
Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. It is a
recognized political organisation by the Irish
Government. An extension of Comhairle na nÓg
is the Comhairle na nÓg National Executive. The
National Executive has one "youth councillor"
from every Comhairle na nÓg and deal with
issues important to young people. These issues
are nominated by young people themselves at an
AGM every two years. The Comhairle na nÓg
National Executive has the opportunity to express
there views in a form of a researched report, ad-
campaign, conferences, seminars and to put
those views to policy makers.
Commonwealth
The 53 member countries of the Commonwealth
of Nations have all signed up to the
Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth
Empowerment (2007–2015). The Plan of Action
underpins the work of the Commonwealth Youth
Programme (CYP). On the Commonwealth
definition, "Young people are empowered when
they acknowledge that they have or can create
choices in life, are aware of the implications of
those choices, make an informed decision freely,
take action based on that decision and accept
responsibility for the consequences of those
actions. Empowering young people means
creating and supporting the enabling conditions
under which young people can act on their own
behalf, and on their own terms, rather than at the
direction of others."
The Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment was
developed by the Commonwealth Secretariat ,
working closely with Ministers of Youth and
young people themselves. It encourages youth
mainstreaming and contains thirteen action
points for governments. The first of these is:
“Develop and implement measures to promote
the economic enfranchisement of young people”
through a range of measures ranging from micro-
credit and entrepreneurship education through to
reviewing macro-economic planning and trade
regimes and how they affect young people. Other
action points address gender equality, HIV/AIDS,
education, the environment, youth participation in
decision-making, and democracy and human
rights.
Benefits of
empowerment
When youth participate in established
empowerment programs they see a variety of
benefits. The practices of youth involvement and
empowerment become embedded within the
organizational culture and the community
culture. [3] Adults and organizations also benefit
from empowerment programs. The both become
more communicable and responsive to youth in
the community, which leads to program
improvements as well as increased participation
from youth. [3]
Critiques of youth
empowerment
One major critique of youth empowerment is that
most programs take a risk-focused
approach. [13] There has been a major emphasis
on what is going wrong for youth in their lives
rather than what goes right. This portrays young
people as a problem that need to be fixed, and
displays the process of development as a
process of overcoming risk. This may deter
youth from joining youth development programs.
The risked-based model can obscure the fact
that adolescence is a time when young people
master skills and concepts. [13]
See also
List of youth empowerment organizations
One World Youth Project
Youth work
Mature minor doctrine
Positive Youth Development
References
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4. ^ a b Sazama, J. & Young, K. (2006) 15
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Three Selected Parishes: An Action
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Jessica; Zeldin, Shepherd; Ortega, Adriana;
Abdullah, Haslinda; Sulaiman, Abdul Hadi
(2013-10-12). "Youth–Adult Partnership:
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Further reading
Harris, A., Wyn, J. & Younes, S. (2010).
Beyond apathetic or activist youth: ‘Ordinary'
young people and contemporary forms of
participation, Young, 18, 1, 9-32.
Sukarieh, M. & Tannock, S. (2011). The
positive imperative: a critical look at the ‘new'
youth development movement, Journal of
Youth Studies, 14, 6, 675-691.
Evans S. (2007) Youth Sense of community:
voice and power in community context,
Journal of Community Psychology, 35, No. 6,
693–709.
Morsillo J., Prilleltensky I. (2007) Social
Action with youth: interventions, evaluation
and psychopolitical validity, Journal of
Community Psychology, 35, No. 6, 725–740
Tsekoura, M. (2016). Spaces for Youth
Participation and Youth Empowerment Case
Studies from the UK and Greece. Young, DOI:
10.1177/1103308815618505.
Zeldin S., Petrokubi, MacNeil C. (2008)
Youth-Adult Partnerships in Decision Making:
Disseminating and Implementing an
Innovative Idea into Established Organizations
and Communities, American Journal of
Community Psychology, 41, 262–277.
Roger A. Hart (2013). Children's Participation:
The Theory and Practice of Involving Young
Citizens in Community Development and
Environmental Care . Routledge.
ISBN 978-1-134-17222-1 .
"What works in enhancing social and
emotional skills development during
childhood and adolescence?" (PDF). WHO.
2015.
European Commission (2015). Empowering
young people to participate in society
(PDF). Publications Office of the European
Union. ISBN 978-92-79-46640-3 . ( Council of
Europe and European Union Report )
Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0
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