This publication from Family Health International (FHI) is a Youth Participation Guide, which seeks to increase the level of meaningful youth participation in reproductive health (RH) and HIV/AIDS programming at an institutional and programmatic level. The target audience includes senior and middle management, program managers, staff involved in implementing activities, and youth who may be engaged at all levels of an organization’s work.
It includes an introduction of basic concepts and provides an overview of the key conceptual issues regarding youth participation. It addresses why youth participation is important, both from a “human rights” perspective put forward by UNICEF and others and from an “impact on program results” perspective. It places the background handouts in a research-based context and provides in-depth information through nine handouts on subtopics involved in youth participation, which can be used as background reading and handouts for facilitators and participants in the training sessions. It also includes a tool for conducting an assessment of institutional youth participation and a process to utilize the assessment results to develop a work plan for involving youth at the institutional level.