Formulation of National Youth Policies

Despite growing interest in youth, most Arab countries lack a strategic vision for youth development. The region continues to address youth through unsustainable sectoral programmes and projects, rather than by formulating national youth policies that would provide nationally-agreed-upon frameworks and realistic guidelines from which actions can be developed to enhance meaningful youth participation and development.^xix

Among the 14 ESCWA countries, 5 countries have formulated national youth policies (Jordan, Bahrain, Palestine, Egypt, Yemen), another 5 countries are in the process of formulating such policies (UAE, Syria, Iraq, Qatar, Lebanon) and the rest of the countries (Sudan, Oman, Kuwait, KSA) only tackle youth issues through their sectoral and national development plans. An absence of detailed statistical data and research on youth, as well as inadequate national capacities for formulating evidence and

knowledge-based youth policies, are some of the challenges being faced at present.

With the aim of fostering citizenship and motivating leadership abilities and negotiation skills amongst the youth, a Lebanese National Youth Parliament was launched in 2009. It is comprised of 64 gender-balanced members, selected from public and private schools. Similarly, an Iraqi Youth Parliament was established in 2009, comprised of 275 members. This parliament aims to activate youth participation in the political, cultural and social fields, and also to provide channels of communication for young Iraqi men and women to express their aspirations and to contribute in making the decisions that affect them.

The Leader Qualification Centre in the United Arab Emirates implements the directives of the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare regarding the preparation, education and enhancement of young people and sports leaders, including their scientific and technical knowledge. It coordinates with youth and sports institutions and organizations in formulating future plans and programmes, organizing training sessions, and conducting relevant studies.

Yemen, meanwhile, launched a Youth Consultative Council in 2007. At present, its 111 members are young persons aged 20 to 25, with females constituting 45% of the total number of council members. Candidates are nominated by political parties, civil human rights organizations, governmental unions, syndicates, and organizations for youth and persons with disabilities. The Council aims at enhancing a volunteering spirit among youth, and at involving them in civil work, social service, as well as discussions on youth and national issues.^xx

New efforts at National Youth Policy formation in the Arab region:

• 5 countries have established National Youth Policies: Jordan, Bahrain, Palestine, Egypt, and Yemen

• 5 countries are in the process of National Youth Policy formation: UAE, Syria, Iraq, Qatar, and Lebanon

• Both Lebanon and Iraq established Youth Parliaments in 2009

The Way Forward

It can be seen that more efforts need to be made in the Arab region to harness the potential of young people and help them develop to the best of their abilities. The dire need to focus more on youth is even greater in this time of unrest. Youth empowerment and development cannot be achieved without the harmonized efforts of the United Nations’ entities and Member States in the region.

Arab countries have become aware, though unevenly, of the importance of addressing youth issues. Much work remains to be done in order to improve the gender gaps that exist in education and employment between young males and females. The quality of education and its correlation to the needs

of the labour market is yet another area that countries in the Arab region need to focus on in order to tackle the issue of unemployment among the Arab youth. Moreover, health provisions and access to health facilities and health information should be improved. As witnessed in the recent uprisings in the region, member countries should aim to guarantee youth participation in decision-making processes as well as in the political and social realms. Last but not least, countries in the region should formulate or revise existing national youth policies to assist youth development.

To be able to achieve the aforementioned improvements, the countries in the Arab region should work to to overcome a number of obstacles that impede their capacity to formulate appropriate national youth policies. Such obstacles may be of a structural nature (insufficient knowledge of modern approaches to youth issues and of the priorities of the World Programme of Action for Youth) or institutional (lack of an effective coordinating institution) or, in some instances, circumstantial (eruption of wars and lack of stability and security). Coordinated mechanisms such as the UNDG Strategic Action Plan on Young People, including UN Agencies and the Regional Commission, can play a role in enhancing the capacity of these countries to formulate national youth policies, follow up their implementation, and ultimately, evaluate them.

United Nations entities, such as ESCWA, should to continue their work in strengthening the national capacity of member countries in the formulation of national policies and strategies targeting youth, organizing training workshops, preparing guides to enhance the capacity of national staff in the area of national policy formulation targeting youth, encouraging research and surveys that determine the basic factors affecting youth and their needs, and finding ways through which these could be addressed. Moreover, entities need to ensure that leadership exists for an extraordinary and immediate response to the needs and challenges facing young people in the Arab States. Other strategies might include: mobilizing the necessary technical and financial resources in support of the development and implementation of national policies, supporting countries in the region in establishing and strengthening data collection and monitoring and evaluation systems, and strengthening advocacy to raise awareness of the situation of the most-at-risk young people, and to stimulate increased investments for programming that target these populations.

For further reading:

• UNDP, Arab Human Development Report, 2009 http://www.arab-hdr.org/publications/other/ahdr/ahdr2009e.pdf

• Regional Commissions, New York Office, Report “Full employment and decent work for all: Regional highlights” 2008

http://www.unece.org/commission/MDGs/RC_brochure.pdf

• The ILO Global employment trends for Youth issue of August 2010 http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---emp_elm/---

trends/documents/publication/wcms_143349.pdf

• League of Arab States. Arab Youth Reproductive Health and Intergenerational Communication, 2007 (in Arabic)

http://www.poplas.org/upload/ArabYouthReproductiveHealthArabic.pdf

• League of Arab States, Arab Youth Issues No.3, Arab Youth Participation: Challenges and Opportunities, 2007 (in Arabic) http://www.poplas.org/upload/ParticipationStudies_2007.pdf

• UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report (2005) http://www.unesco.org/education/gmr/download/chapter3.pdf

• ESCWA Population and Development Report No4, 2009 http://www.escwa.un.org/information/publications/edit/upload/sdd-09-6.pdf

• League of Arab States, Developing Arab Education for Youth Empowerment, 2005 (in Arabic) http://www.poplas.org/upload/2.pdf

• The Millennium Development Goals in the Arab Region 2007: A Youth Lens http://www.uis.unesco.org/template/pdf/EducGeneral/MDGsArab07.pdf

• UNESCO: A Decade of Higher Education in the Arab States: Achievements and Challenges Regional Report, 2009 http://www.educationdev.net/educationdev/Docs/arab_higher_education_report.pdf

• ESCWA, National Youth Policies within the Framework of the World Programme of Action, 2010 http://www.escwa.un.org/about/gov/session26/editor/Download.asp?table_name=sess26_documents &field_ name=ID&FileID=31

• ESCWA: Statistical Committee, Item 4 (a), Chapter II: Guiding Declaration of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia on giving greater attention to Youth Policies: An Opportunity for Development, 13-15 October 2010

http://css.escwa.org.lb/english/295XXVI.pdf

• UNDG Arab States Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA): Strategic Action Plan on Young People (June 2010) http://arabstates.undp.org/contents/file/psg/StrategicActionPlan-Final_28_June_2010.pdf

• Clark, Helen. 2011. Jobs, Equity and Voice: Why Both Economic and Political Inclusion Matter in the Arab World, Huffpost Worldhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/helen-clark/jobs-equity-and-voice-why_b_846424.html

Endnotes

ⁱ Regional Commissions, New York Office, Report “Full employment and opportunities for all, regional highlights” 2008

ⁱⁱ The ILO Global employment trends for Youth issue of August 2010

ⁱⁱⁱ League of Arab States. Arab Youth Reproductive Health and Intergenerational Communication, 2007

^iv League of Arab States, Arab Youth Issues No.3, Arab Youth Participation: Challenges and Opportunities, 2007

^v UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report (2005). Cited in ESCWA Population and Development Report No4, 2009

^vi Najib, K. Development of Arab Education Systems to Empower Youth: Challenges and Future Prospects, 2005.

^vii UN and League of Arab States. MDGs in the Arab Region, 2007

^viii UNESCO: A Decade of Higher Education in the Arab States: Achievements and Challenges Regional Report, 2009

^ix The ILO Global employment trends for Youth issue of August 2010

^x Arab Labour Organization estimates (2006). Cited in ESCWA Population and Development Report Issue No.4, 2009

^xi GCC Countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates

^xii Arab Labour Organization estimates (2006). Cited in ESCWA Population and Development Report Issue No.4, 2009

^xiii MDGs in the Arab Region, Op cit.

^xiv League of Arab States. Arab Youth Reproductive Health and Intergenerational Communication, 2007

^xv ESCWA Population and Development Report, Op cit.

^xvi League of Arab States. Arab Youth Reproductive Health and Intergenerational Communication, 2007

^xvii League of Arab States, Arab Youth Issues No.3, Arab Youth Participation: Challenges and Opportunities, 2007

^xviii UNDG Arab States Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA): Strategic Action Plan on Young People , 2010

^xix ESCWA, National Youth Policies within the Framework of the World Programme of Action, 2010

^xx ESCWA Population and Development Report Issue No.4, 2009

This Fact Sheet was prepared by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia and the United Nations Programme on Youth. It is part of a series of Fact Sheets developed under the coordination of UNPY to support the International Year of Youth

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 496