Publication: Change-Makers: Empowering Youth for Inclusive Societies
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2025-02-04
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2025-02-04
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This paper presents a review of global evidence and World Bank operational experience and distills lessons to support the empowerment of youth. The review of global literature reveals three fundamental principles: (i) interventions that seek to promote jobs and economic empowerment of youth are more effective when they account for the specific barriers and circumstances that young people face; (ii) voice and agency are crucial, the more so because young people today face challenges that are not easily solved by conventional development initiatives focused on education or jobs alone; and (iii) young people can and must be enabled to catalyze greater cohesion and development for their communities. The operational review analyzed Bank operations focusing on youth over the past 20 years and identified good practices that apply these principles across sectors and regions. In doing so, it highlights the significant operational knowledge on this subject at the Bank. It identifies recurring challenges, including balancing the opportunity to reach large numbers of young people with reaching the most excluded youth. It unpacks how teams have resolved these tensions and opportunities for scaling up good practices.
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“Sultan, Sonya M.; Espinoza, Sabina A.; Hellali, Shughla. 2025. Change-Makers: Empowering Youth for Inclusive Societies. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42754 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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