Challenge
Led by Making Cents International, USAID’s YouthPower Learning project closed major knowledge gaps in PYD theory and practice, yet there is a continuing need to build, expand, and disseminate PYD evidence and learning more widely across multiple sectors. USAID’s Journey to Self-Reliance agenda requires a fresh perspective and forward-looking approaches to achieve systems change through effective integration of PYD principles and frameworks into local community and host-government strategies.
Solution
Making Cents International implements YouthPower 2: Learning and Evaluation (YP2LE), a follow-on contract to our successful YouthPower Learning project. YP2LE is designed to leverage the achievements of YouthPower Learning to better inform future youth programs, policies, and strategies and increase youth engagement in development efforts. Through YP2LE, we will piece together a puzzle of global PYD evidence building, stakeholder engagement, knowledge transfer, and application of learning to construct high-quality, impactful, and sustainable youth programs by implementing the following key activities:
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Advance the PYD learning agenda and other youth-related learning agendas through research, analysis, and dissemination of evidence, best practices, guidance, and practical tools for youth development practitioners and stakeholders.
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Maintain and further develop a cross-sectoral PYD Learning Network to share and disseminate knowledge, research, evaluation, learning products (e.g., evaluations, research, assessments, technical products, tools, events, videos, webinars, webcasts), and PYD lessons learned and best practices.
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Manage the YouthPower and YouthLead websites to foster an inclusive, demand-driven learning network for development practitioners and youth to connect and share resources on sector- and context-specific and cross-sectoral PYD programming, and, as appropriate, other programming where youth are among the beneficiary groups.
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Provide rapid response technical support to USAID Missions and Washington-based operating units for the design, implementation, and evaluation of cross-sectoral PYD programs/activities/strategies, as needed, through field support buy-ins.