This post is by Nicole Goldin, director for Youth, Prosperity, and Security Initiative with the
Project on Prosperity and Development at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, and director of the Global Youth Wellbeing Index project
in partnership with the International Youth Foundation. This blog has been posted as part of the Wikiprogress discussion on "Youth well-being: measuring what matters!".
Brimming with talent and ideas, today’s youth – the largest
and most connected generation in human history – are creating a new global
reality, and charting an unprecedented course for themselves and their
communities. They are defending democracy, promoting peace, and with an
enterprising spirit, desperately wanting the opportunity to work hard,
build a sustainable livelihood and live up to their potential. Today’s
young people are an inspired generation, poised to drive global prosperity and
security not only for themselves and their families today, but their
communities and nations for generations to come.
But we know demography is not destiny. Their fate may
be challenged. The promise in youth is often overshadowed – and in some
cases undermined – by absent or ineffective policies, weak systems, poor
infrastructure, unsatisfactory education and training, or inadequate
investments and avenues of participation that limit the opportunities youth
deserve and the world demands.
Fundamentally, however, young people’s needs and aspirations
have too often gone largely unnoticed or unheard. Why? One reason is that
we simply don’t have a strong enough understanding of how they are doing or
feeling.
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To help shed light on how young people are faring around the
world, and in turn increase youth-centered policy dialogue and investments, the
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the International
Youth Foundation (IYF), with principal support form Hilton Worldwide, have
today launched the inaugural Global Youth Wellbeing Index in hopes of facilitating thought and
action by, with, and in the interests of today’s youth.
The index measures youth wellbeing based on 40 indicators
comprising six interconnected domains in 30 countries, covering 70 percent of
the world’s young people. And there were some striking lessons [findings?]:
– A large majority of the world’s young people are
experiencing lower levels of wellbeing – 85 percent of the youth represented in
our Index live in countries with below average scores overall.
– Even where young people are doing relatively well, they
still face specific challenges and limitations. Spanish youth, for example,
face economic exclusion, while Saudi young people grapple with safety and
security.
– Though young people may not be thriving overall, they
display success in certain areas. Colombian and Ugandan youth, for example, top
the ranks in terms of citizen participation.
– Across countries, average scores indicate young people
faring best in health, weakest in economic opportunity, and with the most
variance in information and communications technology.
There are roughly 1.8 billion young people on the planet,
living for the most part in emerging and developing economies and fragile
states. Yet these global youth are not a monolithic group, and face
cultural, geographic, economic, and political constraints and opportunities.
While we anticipate young people, policy makers, donors and
investors will largely respond within their immediate communities and
countries, we hope this index will also help stimulate discussion about the
global economic, social and political agenda (including the Post 2015
development framework) for young people, allowing for recommendations that can
be acted upon both globally and locally – anywhere and everywhere.
So where should action start? The index also highlights the
need to elevate and better connect and coordinate policies and investments
concerning young people, and for closer attention to youth satisfaction and
aspirations, increasing youth participation and elevating youth voices by
highlighting the opinions and outlook of young people themselves.
Of course, providing sufficient opportunities, addressing
needs, meeting aspirations and supporting success among millions of youth is a
real challenge – especially for still cash-strapped governments still trying to
steer their economies back toward sustainable growth. But the potential payoff
is huge – not least economically. Now is the time to invest in strategic
policies, partnerships and programs that engage and equip youth to be
productive and realize their ambitions.
If this transformative generation can be given the tools it
needs to thrive, then we will all be the better off for it.
Nicole Goldin
Twitter @nicolegoldin and @csis
This blog was first posted on CNN, here.
