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"Alexia Ash" [ Profil ] |
| Sujet: |
Week 2 Discussion, models of youth engagement, and provocative question
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| Envoyé: |
Jul 12th, 2007 - 11:41:45 |
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In response to the questions posed by both Mitty and Mattias, I have
considered how I define youth participation in development, what development
issues are important to youth in North America, and the impact of youth
participation in development.
I consider youth participation as the *active* involvement of youth in the
world their societally prescribed habitats, namely school and home. By my
own definition, youth participation spans a wide variety of activities, both
directly and indirectly impacting the wider goals of international
development. Youth participation can occur on a global scale, or on a local
scale within a youth's native community. Active involvement can include
field work, such community service projects or mission trips. Active
involvement can occur on a less direct level, with youths learning about
global issues from reading, watching, or discussing these issues with adults
or their peers.
The issues that concern youth are pervasive – all global issues concern
youth, as youth eventually grow up and inherent the unresolved issues of the
previous generations. However, in my experience, youth seem to be naturally
predisposed to care about certain issues – environment, youth development,
and human rights. These admittedly extensive issues seem more immediate to
the youth condition, and are therefore easier to promote to the youth
population. As children, we are taught to value the environment, enjoying
free time outdoors and marveling in nature's wondrous ways. Many people
seem to lose this connection to the natural world as they become more
concerned with the material necessities of everyday living – maintaining a
job, feeding a family, etc. Youth development is innately a youth issue, as
it concerns a peer group that feels a generational connection. Human rights
seem to call upon the idealism often associated with youth – not that
universal rights is in anyway too utopian to value, just that again adults
seem to be more willing to make sacrifices, this time for the bigger global
picture. All of these views and assumptions about youth can be argued,
denied, or disproved, and certainly there are effective and passionate youth
groups addressing many other development issues. These are just my own
observations of youth.
So finally we come to the question of why all of this matters. Who cares if
youth are involved, and does it make a significant difference to reach out
to youth versus reaching out to any other demographic of the human
population? The cliché response to this is of course the idea I already
mentioned, that youth will inherit the global issues facing today's adults,
and so they should be engaged in order to be prepared for the future. However,
there are immediate reasons as well. First, youth bring qualities to the
table that are invaluable in any proactive process, including
development. Youth
as a group possess passion, creativity, energy, and a certain amount of
idealism. These are not foreign qualities to adults; the difference is,
often times the attributes of youth go untapped by the adult community, or
the "establishment" that have access to resources that youth do not.
Therefore,
it is simply a matter of wasted resources for adults to not engage youth in
development.
The other impact I see is the value to the participant that Kirsten
mentioned. Youths who are actively involved, in their community or the
global community, are more likely to develop leadership skills, confidence,
and self-esteem, not to mention a practical education. They are also less
likely to engage in disruptive behavior. By benefiting individual youths on
a personal level, involvement increases the efficacy of youths on
development and their inclination to make an impact. This, in turn, changes
the outcome of the development process, as more people, with more knowledge
and more ideas, become involved.
Sorry if this is a bit extensive – I really enjoyed drafting this response,
and find the questions posed thought-provoking J
I look forward to continued responses on these discussion questions, and
others!
-Alexia
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