Thursday 26 March 2015

Wikiprogress Online Consultation on Youth Well-being


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:

·        Restless Development
·        Youth Policy

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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14 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Since the youth of America are the future of the country I believe that their well being is essential. It is in our youth that we not only receive our education, learn and practice important life lessons, but also build a strong moral foundation which we use to govern ourselves later on in life. Therefore it is extremely important that we teach our youth these principals at a young age to ensure that they remain with them through the rest our their lives.

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  3. What does “youth well-being” really mean? For this question, most importantly this means securing the safety of the youth. I think this pertains more to the youth under 20 rather than 20-25. As teens we like to experiment and sometimes do dangerous things. I think it's important that children are watched because if not chaos could occur. On the contrary I also think its important that children are able to go out into the world and experiment. If they are tied on a leash by strict laws there whole lives than they won't be prepared for the real-world.

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  4. The well-being of a countries youth is essential for the future and prosperity of any nation that desires to grow. In a closer lens it is imperative to the United States of America that we gather as much information as possible to improve the "well-being" of our youths. The phrase "well-being" can be interpreted in numerous ways, my idea of a well off youth, is a youth that is prepared for their future. The best way to do this is to instill strong morals in our youths at a young age, so their their futures condone these moral ideals which a healthy, growing community idealizes.

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  5. Instilling a strong moral foundation or moral compass in our youth is imperative as our world becomes increasingly complex as we continue to develop as a race. Certain traditional methods of education are important but some become increasingly less relevant in an increasingly modern era. As our world becomes more complex, the decisions our youth will make in the future as leaders of the world will be very difficult and often they will be faced with right versus right scenarios. Therefore, a framework of strong morals is increasingly essential.

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  6. The well being of the youth of our country, or even the world, is essential for our future. My idea of "well being" for the youth is revolved around the idea of education. Through strong education our youth can learn morales and ways to lead themselves to successful lives. As technology advances, were becoming more complex everyday and protecting our youth will become more essential then ever.

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    1. I agree with you. Without education the young minds of today could become corrupt and technology growth would decline.

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  7. I feel like youth well being is a fundamental part of a secure and stable society. The entire idea of youth well being refers to the mental, physical, and emotional state of the youths of the world. It may not be possible, but once everyone reaches a certain level of well being, people are more likely to be compelled to do more for their country, for their community. To find out what the youth of the world want, or more importantly, need, to reach a state of well being, there needs to be more understanding and communication among the ages. Today it seems that there is such a vast misunderstanding of the youth opinions, and there can be no improvement in the strength of community well being until an understanding is actually reached, and youth well being achieved.

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    1. I agree, the youth need to be better understood before they can start to contribute to the world around them. They can be misunderstood even if they are trying to do the right thing

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  8. I believe that in some aspects in order to make a better policy for younger people, the younger people need to have a voice too. Therefore in order to better understand youth well being the youth should be consulted. Usually people do not have a say until they can vote or legally be an adult, which is 18; however, you can be tried in a court of law at age 16 in some states. This is partially hypercritical in how you are not an adult until you do something wrong and then are temporarily granted the title. I think that if you can be tried for an adult at 16 you should have more say maybe not vote but be able to add meaningful input as an adult too.

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  9. As more and more jobs become inoperable by humans, and with the limits of technology being virtually endless, it is more essential than ever for our youth to be technologically competent.

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