The Volunteer Action Network
Youth Challenge International (YCI) builds the skills, experience and confidence of young people aged 18 to 30 by involving them in substantive overseas international development projects in partnership with local youth-serving organizations. Our mission is predicated on the recognition that young people are both a major human resource for international development, and the primary social and economic change agents of the future.
YCI advocates and participates in development that enhances the capacity of youth to share visions and values, to discuss the common good, define goals collectively and to build the skills and strategies required to reach them.
Our experience has taught that it is impossible to promote this type of development by working only in the South. Sustainable development and global citizenship involves considerable change within Northern societies and governments. We must address issues of trade and finance, debate national and foreign policy, tackle issues in our own communities, and most importantly understand how our own practices affect the global community. The challenge then is to participate in meaningful action and create the necessary opportunities for collective deliberation.
The Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation supported the development of YCI's Volunteer Action Network. This network has not only increased the opportunities for YCI's returned volunteers to remain meaningfully involved in global development issues but also actively and creatively engages other young Canadians in global issues through participation in action projects and exposure to youth driven policy research. Over 75 youth have been involved in 10 Action teams from April 2006 to April 2007.
Lessons Learned
- Structure and supports matter in sustaining youth led program
development, implementation, evaluation and decision-making structures.
Recommendation: Develop alongside youth decision-making structures, processes and leadership within youth-serving organizations. Youth need to be supported in program development, implementation and evaluation through mentorship, access to resources, regular communications, clear role descriptions and ongoing recognition. - Successful youth engagement programs need to time to ramp up.
Recommendation: Relationship building takes time and not everyone is coming to the table with the same skills or expectations. In the first year of a new youth engagement program or initiative, efforts should be focused on developing the necessary structures and supports to ensure success. - Public Policy is a difficult intersection for youth based
programming.
Recommendation: The development of youth friendly policy guides will ensure policy is accessible to young people. Supporting awareness raising campaigns is important and advocates of youth engaged in such activities can assist with making the policy connections to lived experiences. - Peer to peer and social networks are the primary recruitment tools for youth based programming. Recommendation: Peer to peer and social networks are strong recruitment tools - however, face to face interactions with staff and peers are necessary to maintain engagement.