The Youth!

I almost feel like this, The Youth!, should be said in some kind of ominous Morgan Freeman voice – as the word youth is so often saturated with a million other connotations beside people that happen to be adolescents.  Youth are so often presented as a problem: a mass of hormones to be controlled, a promise to be carefully shepherded, an unpredictable and ever growing mass of people that can destabilize countries and entire regions.  To be sure, there are many wonderful individuals and organizations that see youth in a much more positive light, but in many policy reports, media pieces, and high level conferences everyone seems to be constantly trying to answer the puzzling question: what is to be done about the youth?!  This question is certainly front and center in Liberia – a country with such a recent past of youth, along with adults, actively taking part in the violent destruction of the nation’s people and resources.  The UN has stated that “the high number of unemployed or under-employed youth remains a particular challenge, since they constitute a volatile group that could be used by spoilers seeking to undermine stability” (emphasis mine).

The “youth bulge” is a population conundrum heard round the world.  Improved health care combined with steady high birth rates has resulted in ballooning populations that have drastically increased the proportion of young people as compared to the rest of the population.  In Liberia, youth is classified as any one between the ages of 15-35 years, close to 30% of the population (Youth Fragility Assessment, 2009).   Many countries have a generous definition for the youth cohort but Liberia at least has a plausible rationale for the large age range.  The fourteen year war (1989-2003) affected nearly everyone in the country, as such hundreds of thousands of people missed out on years of education and development.  Most of these people, “overage youth”, are now in their mid to late twenties and even early thirties.  Many are working diligently to piece together their lives and complete their education and transition in the workforce.  They are developmentally, at least, in the stage of youth even though their age and other social stations in life may indicate that many of them are adults.   As such, it is entirely possible to find a 30 year old person who is both the head of a household and a 12^th grade student.  This can be quite challenging as there is often and overlapping need for basic knowledge learned in school such as literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking in traditional subjects while also needing skills gained through life skills education (health, human rights, conflict resolution, etc education), workforce and livelihood development, civic engagement and protection. Add to this the very different needs of a 15 year old vs. a 35 year old (let alone further distinguishing between male and female, urban and rural, GBV survivors, ex-combatants, etc) and it is easy to see why the issue of youth is so big and complex.  A possible solution lies only in a comprehensive and sustained long term strategy that integrates multiple sectors to fully address the needs of youth.  Unfortunately this is nearly impossible to get donor or government funding for and challenging to implement as it would require the government to have the capacity to take key decision making roles and then deliver on complex implementation.  At present, the capacity of the government is being built and progress has been made but it is evident, if only from the sheer number of UN and NGO Land Cruisers tooling around Monrovia, that development partners are still in the driver’s seat here.

Wow, I think I veered off into the world of policy wonk speak there.  Back to the youth!  And specifically the female youth!  As a result from my time here in Liberia, but also influenced from lots of other life experiences, I find myself increasingly interested in the role of youth in driving their own development and empowerment.  Specifically, how do adolescent girls develop the voice and leadership skills? And then use these skills to empower not only themselves but also affect positive change in their communities? I think that the development of both the ability to speak out and let your voice be heard and the ability to lead others to do the same is of vital importance for both girls and boys as they transition into adulthood and become the leaders or their communities and nations.  In Liberia, I think it is absolutely crucial for girls to develop this capacity to overcome the many challenges imposed on them by their nations historical, economic, and cultural realities.  My starting point for how to think about designing a way to address this is a combination of gender equality, human rights education, and leadership development that should include both girls and boys in partnership but with the express aim of increasing girls’ ability to be leaders.

From my journey around rural communities in Liberia and interviews I conducted with over sixty (small sample size I know so not representative blah blah blah) female students, teachers, and community members I learned that there are two major reasons why girls drop out of primary school (the very first step on the road to empowerment and leadership): 1) poverty (both lack of money to pay for uniform, book, shoes and the need for the girl to earn money to contribute to the family income) and 2) pregnancy – over 25% of girls age 15-19 years old have already had a child (Youth Fragility Assessment, 2009).  Poverty is big and multifaceted and requires long term solutions that have lots to do with international finance, trade, and power relations between nations.  But pregnancy! Early, unplanned, and often unwanted pregnancy is an interpersonal obstacle that can be overcome with education at the local level!  If the first step in getting girls to stay in school is to prevent teenage pregnancy, then it very well may follow that the first step in preventing teenage pregnancy is a girls’ ability to say “no!’ and have that “no!” be heard and respected not only by her potential partner but also by her community and society at large.  Could empowerment through leadership development be a way to achieve this? And what is the role of youth agency, a girls’ ability to assert control and driver her own empowerment and development process, have in this type of leadership development?  I am still thinking through this and will likely be thinking through it for a long time.  Thoughts and insights are welcome!