Inclusive, rights-based National Youth Policies

Young people are affected by policies in many sectors such as education, health and sport, and to build strong policies should be included in the policy development process. For youth policies, where they are the central target beneficiary, this role should be especially prominent. The Baku Forum on National Youth Policies reaffirmed the importance of national youth policies in building systematic and cohesive approaches to youth development.

UNESCO has worked to support the development of National Youth Policies in many part of the world and has used this experience to develop Building Better Policies With and for Youth. To further support strong participation, UNESCO Bangkok has been working to develop a toolkit that targets the inclusion of vulnerable youth and young women to ensure that their needs are specifically addressed in policies.

The toolkit has been piloted in Lao PDR and Viet Nam, and links directly to UNESCO’s work on both capacity building and advocacy. Whilst focused on Southeast Asia, the toolkit provides guidance that is generally globally applicable. Participation of young people in the development of the toolkit is being encouraged through the Inclusive Policy Lab crowd sourcing policy development platform. You can join in this discussion by visiting the Inclusive and Participatory Youth Policy in Southeast Asia e-team. The toolkit will be published in 2019.