USAID’S YOUTH IN DEVELOPMENT POLICY

In October 2012, USAID launched its first-ever Youth in Development Policy (“the Youth Policy”) with the goal to “improve the capacities and enable the aspirations of youth so that they can contribute to and benefit from more stable democracies and prosperous communities and nations.” The Youth Policy is intended to cover all USAID sectors and regions and aims to achieve the following two objectives: "to strengthen youth programming, participation and partnership in support of Agency development objectives [DOs]”; and "to mainstream and integrate youth issues and engage young people across Agency initiatives and operations.” The Youth Policy articulated several core requirements, such as the appointment of an Agency Youth Coordinator and Washington, D.C. bureau and office youth portfolio leads. Other key actions were strongly encouraged, including the appointment of mission youth portfolio leads, and the development of technical support products, training, and youth engagement mechanisms.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSESSMENT

USAID's Office of Policy within the Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning (PPL/P) strongly suggests conducting policy implementation assessments five years after the publication of each policy and strategy. This assessment of the Youth Policy was a collaborative process between PPL/P and an external team assembled through the Learning and Knowledge Management Mechanism (LEARN). The goals of the assessment were to identify progress, successes, challenges, and lessons learned during the first five years of policy implementation; to identify and recommend actions the Agency could take to improve implementation; and to generate knowledge about policy implementation more broadly.

This assessment examines programming that is both youth-focused (targeting youth as primary beneficiaries) and youth-inclusive (targeting a wider population but including youth in select components or as a cross-cutting issue). The assessment seeks to answer three main research questions:

1. To what extent have youth programming, participation, and partnerships been strengthened since the launch of the Youth Policy?
2. To what extent have youth issues been mainstreamed and integrated across Agency initiatives and processes since the launch of the Youth Policy?
3. What have been the leadership, organizational, and technical support structures for policy implementation, and how effective have these efforts been?