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Youth Participation Vital for Feedback on their Needs

17 August 2005

Andrew Simmons, Deputy Director, Commonwealth Youth Programme, London
Andrew Simmons, the Deputy Director of the Youth Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat
The participation of young people in the workforce, the community and in policy-making is critical in their development and in the progress of their societies, said Andrew Simmons, the Deputy Director of the Youth Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat. He said their feedback on the issues and challenges faced will be crucial in the formulation of the Youth Development Index (YDI).

Mr Simmons, who is involved in the drafting of the YDI together with representatives from international development agencies, told the Commonwealth News and Information Service (CNIS) in an interview about the importance of an index to gauge the progress made by young people, who make up 60 per cent of the global population. He had organised an inter-agency consultation held at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, UK, in July 2005, which brought together key partners in youth development to develop an index to document the issues faced by young people.

Mr Simmons said the YDI will provide an indication of the performance of young people in socio-economic and political aspects of life in their respective countries. This index will offer useful information to governments and development agencies, enabling them to study trends and situations faced by young people so that policies and programmes can be targeted to improve their prospects in life. The effectiveness of various youth programmes run by different development agencies can also be assessed from the data presented in the YDI.

The Secretariat will be gathering data on young people in the Commonwealth for the YDI, which will be compiled together with information from other development agencies such as the United Nations, World Bank and other youth development agencies. The data includes issues related to unemployment, health and education.

"It would be easy to quantify the other indicators from the YDI through censuses and surveys, but how do we measure the quality of participation from young people in the developmental and political processes? Their involvement in various fields is important to enable us to get their feedback and input on how best to tailor policies and programmes to their needs," said Mr Simmons.

 

CNIS - Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 248, 17 August 2005

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