Going Global: Using Authentic Youth
Engagement to Advance International
Advocacy and Policy Reform
Jim Casey Youth Engagement Summit
August 6, 2014
Session Goals:
• Share examples and experiences of young people in the
advocacy and policy arenas
• Focus on transferability of positive youth development
principles, practices and policy across countries and
contexts
• Focus on the impact of youth and adult alliances
Speakers
• Cordelia Belezaire
– Youth Against Violence Movement Coordinator – Belize
• Sixto Cancel
– Jim Casey Youth Fellow
– Clinton Global Initiative Representative
– Rising Junior at Virginia Commonwealth University
• Bonnie Politz
– Senior Advisor, Creative Associates International
Facts & Figures
• Youth aged 15-24 make up 27% of the world’s population
• 1.7 billion youth today – largest generation to enter adulthood
• In developing countries up to 50% of 15-24 year olds are
unemployed and out of school
• Marginalized youth more likely to engage in risky behaviors, be
recruited into crime, armed conflict and terrorism
Policy and Advocacy Trends in Global
Youth Development
• United Nations
• Post-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) / Youth
Action Guide
• Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development
• International Youth Day (August 12th, 2014)
Policy and Advocacy Trends in Global
Youth Development
• US Agency for International Development
• Youth in Development Policy
• State of the Field Reports on Youth Development: Workforce,
Education, Youth Engagement, Cross-Sectoral Approaches
Policy and Advocacy Trends in Global
Youth Development
Supporting Research
Youth Engagement
“The active, empowered, and intentional partnership with youth as
stakeholders, problem solvers, and change agents in their communities.”
- Youth Leadership Institute
“If you decide to institutionalize youth
voice, you are essentially designing and
launching a whole new project that needs
resources, oversight, and direction.”
—YouthBuild
“Eighty-five percent of Taliban recruits are
under 25 and the majority of people in Egypt
in the square were young people. So you
see a trail of positive or negative in which
young people are already involved…”
—Restless Development
Hart’s Ladder of Youth Participation
Cordelia Belezaire
• National
Coordinator, Youth
Against Violence
Movement in Belize
Central America Youth Against
Violence Movement
Objective: Influence policy makers to implement the right
strategies which we believe will aid the development of
youth and create a safer Central American region; one
without violence.
Central America Youth Against
Violence Movement
• A USG-funded initiative, began in
Guatemala in 2009
• Now in 7 Countries: Belize, Guatemala, El
Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica,
Nicaragua
• Youth volunteers between 16 to 35
Youth Against Violence Movement in
Belize
• The chapter in Belize was formed in
November 2012
• Outcomes:
– Public Policy Recommendations for the
Prevention of Violence at the Central American
Presidential Summit
– Government of Belize National Youth Strategy
– Caricom Youth Stakeholder consultation
• Strategy 1
Strengthen civil society and state institutional
structures
• Strategy 2
Strengthen the family for the integral
development of the youth
• Strategy 3
Strengthen the formal educational system as well
as non formal and alternative educational
initiatives
• Strategy 4
Reduce risk factors for the development of citizen
security
• Strategy 5
Promote the recovery of public spaces and the
development of integral initiates for peaceful
coexistence
• Strategy 6
Provide incentives for the development of youth
organizations and volunteer opportunities
promoting youth social and political leadership
• Strategy 7
Provide incentives for vocational, employment
and entrepreneurial opportunities
• Strategy 8
Promote integral attention for youth at risk
• Strategy 9
Guarantee access to justice, rehabilitation and
insertion of youth with an emphasis on restorative
justice.
Sixto Cancel
 Founder, Think of Us
 Member, Youth Innovation Advisory,
Dell Inc.
 Commitment Maker, Clinton Global
Initiative University
 Young Fellow, Jim Casey Youth
Opportunities Initiative
 National Fellow, The National Center
For Innovation & Excellence
 Scholar, YouthVillages
 Student, Virginia Commonwealth
University
Contact
• Cordelia Belezaire cordeliabelezaire@hotmail.com
• Sixto Cancel –sixto.cancel@gmail.com
• Bonnie Politz – bonniep@creativedc.com
Visit our website at
www.creativeassociatesinternational.com