scholarly journals Positive Youth Development: A Bridge to Connect Civic Education and Sustainable Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 363-378
Author(s):  
Ashley Law ◽  
Virginia Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Young People ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
School Closures ◽  
The Sustainable Development

Young people are not consistently or adequately valued by other global and community actors as contributing members and leaders. Given the current political context of democratic backsliding, school closures, and social distancing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, young people are facing increased barriers to developing their democratic identities, learning how to be active citizens, and exercising their rights to participate in civic and political life. Now more than ever, development practitioners and the international community need to shift their approach to engaging young people in democracy and governance programs from one that views them as recipients to one that treats young people as partners and considers the unique environments in which they live. This paper argues that civic education programs that apply a positive youth development (PYD) approach can inform and shape how young people develop democratic identities and habits and directly link these identities and behaviors to building and sustaining democracies. The paper illuminates good practices and lessons learned through an exploration of global civic education programs demonstrating the utility of a PYD approach. The final section identifies areas to consider for the expansion and future of civic education programs to ensure their effectiveness and better link them to the Sustainable Development Goals.

scholarly journals Positive Youth Development in the 21st Century: Exploring Online Environments

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-26
Author(s):  
Mark Light ◽  
Jessica Falkenthal
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Target Audience ◽  
Youth Organizations ◽  
Mobile Media ◽  
Target Populations ◽  
Online Environments ◽  
New Strategies

The manner that young people and adults are communicating with each other is rapidly changing in society that is, in part, driven by the latest technology. As a youth-driven program, we must engage in new strategies and methods by which we communicate with youth members, volunteers, families, and the community at large. Social and mobile media are a growing and popular venue for much of our target audience and youth development practitioners must learn how to leverage these networks to create positive youth development in online environments. If we ignore and don’t engage in the opportunity to be connected to youth online, then youth are left to make their own paths online and set the online norms. As youth organizations, we also must seize the opportunity to be online mentors and use the resources that are available and being used by our target populations.

Positive Youth Development

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-108
Author(s):  
Nora Wiium ◽  
Fitim Uka
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Social Competencies ◽  
Use Of Time ◽  
Positive Identity ◽  
Policies And Programs ◽  
Communist Countries

Consistent with the positive youth development perspective, the experience of internal and external assets is associated with positive development or thriving among young people. This proposal has been developed and tested mainly in the United States but it also appears to be considerably true for Roma youth living in post-communist countries. This chapter examines Roma youth (N = 354) experience of various developmental assets and how these assets are related to thriving. Study results indicated positive relations between the assets and thriving, in general. In addition, the experience of constructive use of time was quite low among Roma youth relative to internal assets, such as commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity, and other external assets such as support, empowerment, and boundaries and expectations. While this low experience of constructive use of time could be a general trend among young people, it could also reflect the discrimination and social exclusion that Roma youth often face. Because Roma youth across Europe form a significant and growing proportion of the school-age population and consequently the future workforce, policies and programs that promote both internal and external assets necessary for thriving are essential because thriving has been associated with the development of self and society.

scholarly journals Sustainable Development, Poverty, and Risk of Exclusion for Young People in the European Union: The Case of NEETs

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santos Ruesga-Benito ◽  
Fernando González-Laxe ◽  
Xose Picatoste
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Structural Equations ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Employment Education ◽  
Socio Economic Variables

The difficulties of access to the labor market remains in the post-crisis period, particularly for younger people and for those countries more affected by the crisis. The economic conditions with the precariousness of the labor market and higher unemployment taxes for youth, draws a scenario where the risk of poverty and social exclusion could influence young people and discourage them from social and economic participation, and thus the number of young people not in employment, education, or training (NEETs) will increase. The sustainable development in general and the social sustainability in particular needs to solve this important issue to get a balanced and fair social and economic scenario. In this work, the influence of socio economic variables related to the level of prosperity of the country and social protection as well as the risk of poverty and social exclusion on young NEETs is evaluated based on the EUROSTAT data for the year, 2016, for young people. The method was a structural equations model and the results confirm that the key important factors for explaining the situation of the NEETs’ are more related to poverty and exclusion than to the economic environment. The main conclusion from these results is the importance of implementing some inclusive actions to prevent an increase in the number of young NEETs, and boosting, in this way, a more balanced and sustainable society.

scholarly journals The Five Cs of Positive Youth Development in an Aotearoa/New Zealand Program Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayne Mercier ◽  
Catherine Powell ◽  
Georgina Langdon-Pole ◽  
Daleki (Fole) Finau ◽  
Karen Hicks ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Outdoor Education ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Five Cs

This study took a qualitative look at an Aotearoa/New Zealand-based positive youth development outdoor-education program in schools using the 5 Cs model of positive youth development. The viewpoints of young people, parents, and teachers were gathered, providing an opportunity to explore additional perspectives of the 5 Cs. All 5 Cs were seen to be present in the program and the 6th C of contribution was also observed. The Cs of competence, confidence and connection featured strongly, whilst the C of connection appeared to be important to young people’s experience of the program. Young people and adults prioritized different outcomes, with adults focusing more on future impacts and young people identifying more immediate benefits. The findings of this study add to an understanding of the 5 Cs model beyond the American context and highlight areas for future research.

scholarly journals Environmental Protection and Social Entrepreneurship Activities: The Vision of the Young People

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Oana-Cristina Modoi ◽  
Andreea Vescan
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Young People ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Quality Information ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Development Goals

The involvement of the young people in adopting sustainable behaviors and their possible activities as social entrepreneurs is important, in terms of the future adults who will make decisions on sustainable economic development. The objective of the study is to find out what are drivers, barriers and practices in the vision of young people and adolescents in Romania, in terms of social entrepreneurship. The study took place online and aimed to facilitate access to quality information related to the integration of the sustainable development principles in daily behaviors of young people, their willingness to become involved in social entrepreneurship activities. As a working methodology, a questionnaire is applied to adolescents and young people, before and after the seminars they participate, in which they are asked about how they see their involvement in some activities of the environmental protection and in social entrepreneurship activities or in what way they want to contribute to the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and which sustainability goals they would choose first.

scholarly journals Components of Camp Experiences for Positive Youth Development

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla A. Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
National Study ◽  
Youth Organizations ◽  
Religiously Affiliated ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Program Components

Youth development specialists advocate that well designed, implemented, and staffed youth centered programs result in positive outcomes for young people. Youth organizations have provided opportunities for young people to participate in camping experiences for over a century. The purpose of this paper is to describe what program components were related to camp environments and positive youth development. We describe these program components related to positive youth development based on a large scale national study of ACA (American Camp Association) accredited camps that included independent, religiously affiliated, government, and not-for-profit organizations. Based on the responses given by camp directors, contact and leadership from trained staff and the supportive relationships they provided were essential elements of camp. Other aspects leading to positive youth development in camps were program mission and structure along with elements of accountability, assessment of outcomes, and opportunities for skill building.

scholarly journals Contributions of Youth Centers to the Development of Young People in Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-89
Author(s):  
Belay Tefera ◽  
Melese Getu ◽  
Befekadu Zeleke ◽  
Yekoyealem Dessie
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Youth Centers ◽  
Global Initiative ◽  
Improve Service Quality ◽  
Youth Friendly ◽  
Youth Friendly Services

There has been a global paradigm shift in conceptualizing how best young persons can be assisted from a conventional deficit-based approach of targeting youth  to a more enabling approach of promoting their strengths and competencies. Establishment of youth centers was one such global initiative meant to catalyze positive youth development through supervised and youth-friendly services. In recognition of this, several youth centers have been established in Ethiopia in the last few decades. This research was thus conducted to examine contributions of these centers to the development of young people. Data were collected through questionnaire from a sample of 2,165 participants (service providers and service users) and observation of 94 youth centers drawn from all regions of the country. Findings indicated that the contributions of youth centers were generally minimal in terms of promoting overall positive youth development. Some evidence even showed that youth centers could serve as a platform for acquiring undesirable behaviors among the youth mainly because supervisory and follow up services were not evident. While expanding establishment of youth centers is indeed commendable to ensure access to the greater majority of youth, the need to improve service quality, however, is a priority concern for the relevant actors.

scholarly journals Health and Education through Sport for development and peace in extreme development contexts: cases studies from various developing countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tegwen Gadais ◽  
Laurie Decarpentrie ◽  
Patrick Charland ◽  
Olivier Arvisais ◽  
Bernard Paquito
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Young People ◽  
Severe Trauma ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Sport For Development ◽  
Resilience Process ◽  
The World ◽  
Development Context ◽  
Development Goals

Across the world, young people do not have the same opportunities to develop their potential and become well-rounded adults. The world's population is approximately 1.8 billion young people aged 10 to 24, and about 90% of them live in developing countries within extreme development context. Optimal development of those generations depends on the resources for support, education and health and the means implemented to sustain this development. However, the imbalance of these resources is clearly observable throughout the world. Sport has been use in many developing countries to contribute to health and education for youth following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations. More especially, sport is use as a leisure to generate resilience, the capacity of a person or group to develop well, to continue to project itself into the future despite destabilizing events, difficult living conditions, and severe trauma. Several authors emphasize the role of recreational activities such as physical activity and sport in the resilience process or for academic perseverance. The chapter explores the perspective and the potential of using sport for the sustainable development for health and education of youth as targeted in the SDG. More especially, we aim to understand how sport can contribute to health and education of youth through cases studies from various developing countries.

scholarly journals A Roadmap for Youth Thriving: A Commentary on the Arnold and Gagnon Vision for Positive Youth Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 147-161
Author(s):  
Richard M. Lerner
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Developmental Science ◽  
Science Theory ◽  
The Common ◽  
Theory Research ◽  
Development Practice

Youth development researchers and practitioners have the common goal of understanding and enhancing the positive development of all young people. The work of Professors Mary Arnold and Ryan Gagnon on the 4-H Thriving Model provides a creative and richly theoretically and empirically informed vision for promoting positive youth development (PYD) through integrating youth development research and practice. Their vision is an exemplar of how theoretically predicated and cutting-edge developmental science and the enactment of youth programs can be mutually informative. Drawing on the theory, research, and ideas for program design encompassed within the Science of Learning and Development (SoLD) Alliance, which applies developmental scholarship that integrates research from multiple disciplines and underscores the malleability, agency, and specificity of mutually influential coactions between youth and their contexts, Professors Arnold and Gagnon illustrate the features of researchópractice integration that must be enacted for innovative progress in programs aimed at enhancing youth thriving. The compelling roadmap for promoting PYD through the integrations framed by the 4-H Thriving Model will advance youth development practice, developmental science theory and research and, most important, the lives of the diverse young people of our nation.

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