(Youth) Engagement and Contribution

What does is measure: This indicator measures the percentage youth participants in skills development interventions who contribute towards community development. A youth participant is any youth who is formally registered in at least one of WHH’s skills development interventions: A youth participant is considered as contributing towards community development if they engaged in any of the following activities (to be adapted by the project) during or up until 6 months after graduating from a skills development intervention: - Advocacy - Being a mentor to others - Sensitizing other youth about TVET services - Providing in-kind contributions to TVET networks/environment Why is it important: Youth Engagement and Contribution strengthens the ownership of training participants and benefits the entire community. Meaningful (youth) engagement recognizes and seeks to change the power structures, while also building their leadership capacities.

Method: If the project lasts less than one year, then the data should be collected as a routine monitoring form that is collected from all participants during project closeout. If the project lasts more than one year, then the data should be collected every six months as a routine monitoring form. If the project reaches more than 2,000 participants in total, it is recommended that a representatively sampled survey is used.

Questions:

1. What is the age of the participant?
2. Which of the following activities has the participant engaged in over the past six months? Select all that apply.
   1. Advocacy
   2. Being a mentor to others
   3. Sensitizing other youth about TVET services
   4. Providing in-kind contributions to TVET networks/environment/offices

How to calculate:

1. A participant counts towards this indicator if they are between 15 and 35 years of age, and if they engaged in at least one community development initiative as defined above.
2. The value of this indicator is the number of participants aged 15-35 who engaged in at least one community development initiative (numerator) divided by the number of participants aged 15-35 (denominator).

What activities should the indicator be used for?

This indicator should be used by projects that aim at positive youth development, youth empowerment, or skills development, with a broader vision to ensure that youth development contributes towards positive societal outcomes. Examples can include projects that implement any of the following youth-specific interventions:

• Mentoring programs
• Networking (Youth / Skills / TVET networks)
• Sensibilization campaigns (perception of TVET etc.)
• In-kind contribution instead of training fees (sitting allowances)
• Mentoring programs
• VSLAs that are targeted towards youth

Disaggregate the data by gender and specific vulnerable groups, such as minorities or people with disability.

Meaningful (youth) engagement is an inclusive, intentional, mutually respectful partnership between youth and adults whereby power is shared; respective contributions are valued; and ideas, perspectives, skills, and strengths are integrated into the design and delivery of programs, strategies, policies, funding mechanisms, and organizations that affect their lives and their communities. At the same time, it increases ownership for participation in the training courses. These should not be free of charge for the participants, which means that a personal contribution should be demanded. This contribution has the greatest added value for the community if it does not only involve financial contributions to the training provider, but also supports others in the community through activities.