YouthLeadGlobal Community of Practice

We are proud and excited to launch a new LeaderNet community of practice: www.YouthLeadGlobal.org in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). YouthLeadGlobal is a community for youth leaders that also aims to gather information on programs that are developing youth leaders around the world with an online survey. MSH’s Leadership, Management & Governance (LMG) Project is working with its collaborating networks, the International Youth Alliance for Family Planning (IYAFP) and Youth Health and Rights Coalition (YHRC), to initiate a global search for promising youth leadership programs and approaches.

In October 2012, USAID launched the Youth in Development Policy. The Policy recognizes youth leadership as one of the many critical pathways for improved health and development outcomes for youth. The LMG Project is looking for youth leadership programs, models, and strategies from around the world that have demonstrated positive outcomes for youth, organizations, and communities, and contribute to health service delivery improvements. For the purpose of their search, they define youth leadership programs as those in which, “young people gain necessary skills and knowledge, and have (or are provided) the opportunities to apply these skills to lead activities in their respective communities.”

Do you know youth leadership programs that fit the following criteria?

If you answer ‘YES!’ to 2 or more of the following questions, please share this link and encourage others to complete the survey here!

• Do you do more than just “train” youth to be leaders?
• Do you develop the leadership skills and knowledge of youth aged 10­-29 years, AND provide opportunities for youth to apply their leadership skills?
• Do you focus on health programs for youth?
• Do you aim to have better health outcomes for youth through leadership?

What’s in it for youth leadership programs?

The meta­-data and the five in­-depth case studies will be featured prominently in a final publication, and the top five youth leadership programs will be highlighted on USAID’s Global Health Impact blog. The LMG Project hopes to present the findings of this survey and commend the successful models at several international conferences, as well as celebrate (and cross­-promote through print and social media) the youth, organizations, and networks at these conferences.

Please join the search for programs that show that youth leadership programs and initiatives, when supported and nurtured, hold great potential and are a worthwhile investment. Youth are our future leaders and will spearhead global efforts to improve health, education, economic development, and other outcomes.

If you would like to learn more about the LMG Project’s work in youth leadership, please visit youthleadglobal.org and consider joining the Community of Practice.