Adolescents and Youth Task Team

Objectives

The INEE Adolescent and Youth Task Team (AYTT) is made up of committed individuals from UN agencies, international and national NGOs, practitioners, researchers and policy makers who work collaboratively on technical tasks to ensure a coordinated, accelerated and expanded, evidence-based response to the educational rights, needs and aspirations of adolescents and youth affected by crisis.

In crisis contexts, education and training play a critical role in creating an environment where all young people can develop a sense of agency and purpose, gain livelihood skills and become actors for peace and stability. And yet, all too often, even where education is available in emergencies, most programs target younger primary-aged children, with too little investment in the developmental and protection rights and needs of youth. The INEE Adolescent and Youth Task Team aims to fill this critical gap considering that:

  • More than 1 in 4 people in the world are youth
  • Approximately 35% of the 14 million refugees are young people aged between 12 and 24
  • Nearly 70 percent of youth live in poor countries
  • Globally 96 million young women are illiterate, compared to 57 million young men. However, the gap has narrowed in the last decade, as girls’ school enrollments have been rising.

The Task Team’s workplan for 2011 - 2012 focuses on the following objectives:

  • Advocacy
  • Knowledge management and technical capacity
  • Resources for All
  • Inter-agency and inter-sectoral coordination

Members

The INEE Adolescent and Youth Task Team is open to anyone who is interested in education for youth in crisis contexts. Currently, the Task Team is made up of over 100 members, working in a wide range of organizations and geographic locations. You can download the full member list here.

The conveners of the Task Team, with the support of an intern, send regular updates on the work of the Team, and highlight relevant news and resources. See here for previous updates: January 2009  February 2009  May 2009  September 2009  November 2009  January 2010  February 2010  March 2010  April 2010  May 2010  June 2010  August 2010  September 2010  December 2010 February 2011 November 2011 February 2012

Co-Conveners:

  • Nicolas Servas (Refugee Education Trust);
  • Josh Chaffin (Women’s Refugee Commission);
  • Anna Seeger (GIZ);
  • Catherine Gladwell (Refugee Support Network).
  • INEE Focal Point: Peter Transburg

If you are interested in participating in this Task Team, please email taskteams@ineesite.org.

Download the INEE AYTT Task Team Flyer here

Ongoing Work

This Task Team has identified a number of priority activities relating to the objectives above. Brief descriptions of each area of work are below:

Advocacy Draw on existing emergency-focused research, as well as relevant research from development contexts, to develop advocacy briefs that make the case for post-primary education:

  • economically, socially, politically, and developmentally
  • in terms of peace and stability, and human rights

The AYTT created a brief for the side event to the UN High Level Meeting on Youth that took place on 25 July 2011 in New York.  The brief gives a general overview of the trends, challenges and ways forward for education for youth affected by crisis. The advocacy brief can be read here. Additional briefs related to the points above will also be produced.

Knowledge management and technical capacity Collate tools and emergency-specific guidance on quality and relevant youth education programming.

Increasing funding for post-primary education This involves conducting a donor analysis to determine which donors are funding post-primary education, and compile examples of innovative funding practices.

Inter-agency and inter-sectoral coordination Develop guidance to support Education in Emergencies agencies engage with national and local youth-serving and youth-led organizations.

Events

INEE-Education Cluster Webinar on Adolescents and Youth Programming in Crisis Contexts

This webinar was held on 27 March 2012.  Related documents and an audio-video recording of the 1-hour webinar are available through the links below.

Webinar recording

Documentation

 

2010 Policy Roundtable An Enabling Right: Education for Youth Affected by Crisis:

The 2010 Policy Roundtable was held on 15-16 November 2010. The one-and-a-half day event brought together a diverse group of policymakers, practitioners, donors, and youth to strategize around how to close critical gaps in advocacy, financing, and service delivery for youth affected by crisis.

From the Working Group and plenary discussions, four foundational principles for work with youth emerged. These include: the centrality of youth participation in all areas of work; the need to take a balanced, sector-wide focus; the importance of utilizing a cross-sectoral approach to ensure youth are seen holistically in terms of their physical, mental, social, developmental, and political needs; and the necessity for evidence-based policy and programming to ensure access to quality opportunities for youth affected by crisis.

For more information on the 2010 Policy Roundtable and to download the Outcome Report, please go here. Also, three framing papers are available below:

 

INEE Global Consultation, 31st March – 2nd April, 2009. Istanbul, Turkey

Several members of the Task Team participated in INEE’s Global Consultation 2009 in Istanbul, which included several sessions dedicated to youth issues, as well as a face-to-face meetings of the Task Team. You can find the Session Overview on Strategies to Increase and Improve Educational and Skills Building Opportunities for Displaced Youth here and the Session Overview on Comprehensive Approaches to VET and Youth Livelihood here.

Further Global Consultation Documents are available:

  • You can visit the INEE Global Consultation 2009 web pages here.
  • You can download the full INEE Global Consultation 2009 Programme here.
  • You can download the INEE Global Consultation 2009 Outcome Report here.