From the 30 March to 8
May, Wikiprogress will be running a 6-week online consultation on
Youth Well-being in co-operation with a number of partners. This
consultation will be quite different from previous discussions held on
Wikiprogress, and the aim will be to cover a very wide range of topics in as
much detail as possible in order to produce a report for policy makers and
practitioners. We intend for the results of the consultation to be presented at
the OECD Forum in Paris in June – and we are counting on your participation to
make sure we have as wide a range of contributions as possible.
Register for and
access the consultation here.
There are more young people living in the world today than
at any time in human history and there is an urgent need to better meet their
needs through more effective policy-making and societal action. Last December,
Wikiprogress held a 2-week online
discussion on Youth Well-being Measurement and Policy. We were overwhelmed
by the reaction to this topic, and it was quite clear that there was much more
to discuss than the usual format allowed.
A new tool for online consultation
From Monday 30 March to the 8 May, we will be running an online
consultation to explore in more detail the many questions raised by the
December discussion. In order to this, we are experimenting with a new
open-source tool, which will allow us to bring more structure to the
conversation, and keep track of the key ideas that emerge over its 6 weeks.
Those who have taken part in previous Wikiprogress
discussions will notice that this consultation looks quite different from our
usual discussion pages. The idea is that by using a tool that has been
specially designed for large-scale online debates, we will be able to organise
contributions by theme and by question, making it easier for people to
participate in the areas that most interest them. It will also make it easier
to highlight key points and summarise pertinent information when it comes to
communicating the knowledge gathered to policy makers. Every week we will
produce a short summary of the key points of the consultation to help
participants keep track of new contributions.
Anyone is free to take part, and we are especially interested
in hearing from:
- Practitioners, researchers and representatives of organisations that have a particular interest in any aspect of youth well-being and youth participation.
- Young people themselves, who want to have a say about what matters most to them.
An evolving discussion
The principal
objective of the consultation is to gather knowledge from as wide a range of informed
people as possible about how to better understand the needs of young people and
how to implement policy and other actions that can improve their lives. The
consultation is designed so that it can evolve, with new questions and ideas
emerging as more people contribute. However, the consultation will open on
Monday with a number of starting questions, in the following areas.
First, what does “youth
well-being” really mean? Or in other words, what are the key drivers for
their well-being and how do the needs
of the under-25s differ from the general population in key well-being policy
areas (health, employment, personal safety, etc.)? What resources can we use to
get an accurate picture of young people’s well-being and where do data gaps
exist?
Second, what actions
can we take to make young people’s lives better? What do we know works and
what lessons can we learn from successful examples of policy and grassroots initiatives?
What are good case studies and where do we need better approaches? How can we
move from rhetoric to making a real impact when implementing the Sustainable
Development Agenda and other commitments?
Third, how can we
improve the process of designing and implementing effective policy for young
people? How can we ensure that young people’s voices are heard in the policy
process, and what changes are needed in government mind-sets and institutions
to improve the lives and opportunities of young people?
What will be the
outcomes of the consultation?
We intend for the findings of the consultation to be
presented at the OECD Forum in Paris
in June, and for a report of the consultation to be made widely available for
policy makers, foundations, civil society organisations and others in the
Wikiprogress network.
Partners
The consultation is being held in partnership with a number
of organisations working on youth well-being issues, currently including:
We are also be adding more partners throughout the consultation.
If you work for an organisation that would be interested in partnering with us,
please email info@wikiprogress.org
And to all Prog Blog readers, we hope that you will join us
in this exciting experiment! Sign up now, and
we look forward to your contributions in the coming weeks.
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