Grants provided under YouthPower Learning
Inspired by research needs and topics identified by the Communities of Practice and in response to other research needs, YouthPower Learning uses grants under contract to engage with youth and contribute to the learning of the network.
Since inception, 17 grants have been awarded (see infographic). Of all 17 grants, 11 funded or highlighted youth-led initiatives, including six grants that went directly to organizations founded and run by youth.
As USAID embarks on its Journey to Self-reliance by enabling low- and middle-income countries to lead their own development solutions, there’s a lot they and INGOs can learn about how to use grant programs like YPL to partner with local organizations.
The objective of the most recent RFA and grant program, the Young Women Transform Prize, is to engage low- and middle-income country youth-serving and youth-led organizations in efforts to collect and share learning, and to capture new evidence and approaches to improve young women’s economic opportunities.
The following grantees were selected:
• Asante Africa Foundation
• Disabled Women Empowerment Center
• Dream Factory Foundation
• Kibera Community Empowerment Organization
• Safeplan Uganda
• The Biz Nation
• Visionaria
The objective of the third RFA and grant program was to advance the evidence base for youth civic engagement in effective peacebuilding or in countering / prevention of violent extremism.
The following grantees were selected:
• Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia, Tajikistan
• Association Malienne pour la Survie au Sahel (AMSS)
• United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY)
• Equal Access
The objective of the second RFA and grant program was to advance the evidence base for gender-transformative positive youth development.
The following grantees were selected:
• Mercy Corps: Girl Research and Learning Power (GRL Power)
• Waves for Change: Moving beyond data disaggregation: utilizing evaluation systems to promote gender equality in sports development for youth at scale
The objective of the first RFA and grant program was to engage US and developing country youth-serving and youth-led non-profit and for-profit organizations in efforts to further assess, evaluate, document and disseminate innovative work in positive youth development (PYD) and cross-sectoral youth programming.
The following grantees were selected:
• Education Development Center, Inc.: Identifying Cross-Cutting Non-Cognitive Skills for Positive Youth Development
• JA Worldwide: Amplifying the Voice of Young People around the World
• Komo Learning Centres: KLC Youth-Led Club Documentary Project
• Restless Development: Inspire, Influence and Inform: a video series highlighting young people’s role in Positive Youth Development programs
Young Women Transform Prize
Disabled Women Empowerment Centre
Creation of a Disabled-accessible Local Women’s Training Center
DWEC is a young woman-founded and led organization in Nepal that works to empower women with disabilities to help them realize their right to full participation in society. DWEC used the Young Women Transform Prize grant to fund renovations to a women’s training center so that it would be accessible to women with various types of disabilities. It built a ramp, footpath, and accessible toilets. Once the construction was complete, the Prize grant funded two types of vocational trainings, one for making a Nepali craft referred to in English as felt balls, and another for making cleaning solutions. The grant funded personal assistants to help participants when necessary as well as sign language interpretation for women who are deaf or hard of hearing. DWEC also conducted a one-day basic business management training for 18 of the women who participated in the vocational trainings. The grant directly impacted 26 young women with disabilities between 15 and 29 years old.
Resources:
Asante Africa Foundation
Assessment of girl-led entrepreneurship and leadership after-school clubs
Asante Africa Foundation used the Young Women Transform Prize to conduct a system-wide programmatic evaluation of its Girl-Led Youth Leadership and Entrepreneurship Program, which connects adolescent girls and boys in Kenya and Tanzania with leadership, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement opportunities. The evaluation surveyed 420 youth from 16 secondary schools in Kenya and Tanzania, plus an additional 104 alumni and 29 teachers. About 61 percent of the total sample was female. The evaluation revealed insights and lessons about the impact of the girl-led model on girls’ and women’s leadership, entrepreneurship, and job readiness. Youth were not only the respondents of the evaluation; they were also part of the evaluation team. Asante hired 12 alumni—seven women and five men—to be enumerators and guide the fieldwork, providing a valuable youth perspective to the evaluation.
Deliverables:
The Dream Factory Foundation
Job-readiness academy for out-of-school youth
Dream Factory Foundation is a young woman-founded organization operating in urban areas of South Africa and Botswana. The Young Women Transform Prize grant funded a job readiness academy for 95 out-of-school youth, 70 of whom were young women. All participants were between the ages of 18 and 25, unemployed, and no longer in either secondary school or university. Between 10 and 30 percent of the young women who joined the Academy were single mothers. Several struggled with anxiety and depression. The Academy supported these young people to regain control over their lives and learn the skills and strategies for achieving the lives they want. The academy had three core courses in its curriculum: (1) business, entrepreneurship and job readiness skills; (2) computer and digital skills, including accreditation in South Africa provided by Silulo iLutho Technologies; and (3) personal mastery, which was led by a gender equality expert and social worker who guided them through self-work, healing, and personal visioning while learning about interpersonal and soft skills like time management. They also went through a business pitch competition in collaboration with representatives with the investment company, Allan Gray.
Resources:
Kibera Community Empowerment Organization
Community engagement campaign to challenge stigmas against young women living with disabilities
The Kibera Community Empowerment Organization (KCEO) is a social enterprise in the Kibera slum of Kenya that helps young people, particularly young mothers with disabilities, build marketable skills and start their own businesses. The Prize grant funded a multi-sectoral, community campaign to change discriminatory practices and stigmas against people living with disabilities. They mobilized a Community Advisory Board (CAB) with stakeholders from the community, hosted a community meeting called a Chief Baraza, where 300 people—approximately 200 of whom were women and 150 of whom have disabilities—came together to share challenges and discuss strategies for disability rights. They also recorded a radio show featuring two disability rights advocates that has reached two million listeners and published a book, Disrupting Disability that challenges harmful stereotypes and practices inflicted against people with disability and how they are compounded by gender identity and other marginalizing circumstances. Because of this campaign, three bank branches have created a policy prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in access to loans, six early childcare education centers have begun admitting children with disabilities, and the local government ward has opened up procurement to businesses owned by women with disability.
Resources:
Safeplan Uganda
Training program for the Budongo Women Bee Enterprises
Safeplan Uganda is a young woman-founded and -led community-based organization that helps young people in the community find work opportunities outside of the sugarcane industry, the primary source of income in the surrounding region. Safeplan used the Prize award to expand Budongo Women Bee Enterprises (BUWOBE), a beekeeping collective, which they established in 2013, and upgrade the products the group enterprise sells. They conducted three trainings for 30 BUWOBE members, 26 of whom were young women, on bee farming skills, business skills, and leadership skills. Safeplan helped the women organize themselves into a savings group and connected them to new market opportunities through high value processing of honey into cough syrup, candles, soaps, and lotions. They hosted a mentorship day where 18 alumni of the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI), half of whom were women, shared their stories and experiences with BUWOBE members. Using the Prize funds, Safeplan was also able to package all of their expertise and knowledge about beekeeping and business skills into their handbook, The Honey Book: A bee farming handbook for rural women.
Resources:
Blog: Youth in Uganda Find a Sweet Solution
Blog: Positive Youth Development Creates Solutions for Young Women
Video: Investing in Youth, Changing Communities in Uganda
Video: Designing Youth-Led Programs in Uganda
Video: Addressing Barriers to Women's Employment in Uganda
The Honey Book: Beekeeping Handbook for Rural Women
Gender Equality and Cultural Diversity Training Manual for Staff and Community Representatives
The Biz Nation
Social media campaign and outreach to promote young women's economic empowerment
The Biz Nation is a young women-owned social enterprise in Colombia that hosts online courses and entrepreneurship programs for young women. With the Young Women Transform Prize, they hosted a series of free webinars on women’s economic empowerment and led an awareness campaign using social media and an event called, Power Night, for educators and philanthropists working on young women’s empowerment. The Empowerment in Heels online course, which reached over 2,000 young women between the ages of 15 and 29 (as well as more than 250 young men), covers some of the foundational issues related to women’s empowerment in the workforce, including the challenges of the gender pay gap and sexual harassment. They also ran a free webinar series via Facebook Live that received over 196,000 interactions from users. Together, the Empowerment in Heels online course, webinars, social media campaign, and Power Night made for an integrated package of outreach and marketing materials that allowed them to build a broader community around young women’s empowerment in Colombia.
Visionaria Network
Expansion of the Visionaria for Schools Program with Quechua-speaking minority youth
The Visionaria Network used the Young Women Transform Prize to expand their Visionaria for Schools (VfS) program, which partners with schools in rural Peru to deliver civic and personal development courses that help Quechua-speaking minority youth build positive identities and find jobs. By working through their network of teachers and schools, VfS supported implementation of Peru’s new national curriculum that requires themes like gender-equality, youth engagement, and building positive personal and cultural identities to be integrated into instruction. They conducted two job market surveys and expanded their courses from one province, Anta, to another, Calca, training civics teachers from 13 new schools in Calca and reaching a total of 750 young women and 650 young men. They also piloted a unique approach to help young people overcome their lack of self-confidence. Alumni created student portfolios, which highlighted their unique qualities, values, and visions for the future. The process of creating portfolios helped students think through their goals and skills while also learning how to communicate their distinguishing characteristics to others. Over 300 students created portfolios in 2018, and an additional 900 students created them in 2019.
Evidence for Youth Civic Engagement in Effective Peacebuilding or C/PVE
Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia, Tajikistan
The Eurasia Foundation for Central Asia used this grant to research the impact and sustainability of country-wide and youth-focused peacebuilding and conflict resolution initiatives in post-civil war Tajikistan. It conducted desk research and in-depth interviews with approximately 50 practitioners, experts, and youth in six regions of the country who participated in peacebuilding programs. Their paper is a comprehensive review of the types of peacebuilding activities conducted by the government, international NGOs, and local NGOs from 1995 through 2018. It includes activities that were youth-focused as well as those that were not explicitly focused on but included youth. Their comprehensive review found that these programs saw initial success in promoting an atmosphere of trust and confidence in the country. However, success has not been sustained due to the decline in funding for civil society and the growth in government suspicion of civil society, particularly organizations focused on countering violent extremism.
Deliverables:
Research Report: The Contribution of Positive Youth Development in Tajikistan to Effective Peacebuilding and to Countering or Preventing Violent Extremism: Successes, Limitations, and Recommendations - Research Report
Webinar based on the report
Association Malienne pour la Survie au Sahel (AMSS)
The Association Malienne pour la Survie au Sahel (AMSS) led field research and a participatory workshop with youth to better understand the underlying causes for and motivations behind youth violent extremism in the Timbuktu region of Mali. They interviewed 290 people from two communities, Bourem Inaly and Lafia Mali. The majority of the young people interviewed were youth: 40 young women and 180 young men. Their research assessed the levels of trust between youth and local authorities, perceptions about employment opportunities, and relationship between civil society and elected officials. Respondents reported that the root causes of violent extremism in their communities are poor governance of local affairs, injustice, and social exclusion of the most vulnerable groups. They emphasized that addressing violent extremism depends on improving the living conditions of young people as well as their prospects for education and jobs. In the participatory workshop to review findings, youth came up with a list of 12 recommended actions for preventing young people from joining violent groups, which included education, awareness-raising campaigns, and dialogues about interfaith coexistence and freedom of worship, economic initiatives like vocational training, and education for leaders and politicians about how to be good leaders.
Deliverables:
Summary of the report of the research action conducted in Bourem Inaly and Lafia in Timbuktu Region
UNOY Peacebuilders
Beyond Dividing Lines: The Reality of youth-led peacebuilding in Afghanistan, Colombia, Libya, and Sierra Leone
In its research, the United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) explored the different forms of youth civic engagement in conflict and post conflict environments in four conflict-affected countries: Colombia, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and Libya. The research was youth-led. UNOY recruited two researchers in each country, one male and one female, who were supported by other staff and UNOY member organizations. They interviewed 241 respondents across the four countries about young people’s motivations for engaging in civic activities and the impact of those activities on peacebuilding. UNOY’s research found that young people’s “inner-drive” to contribute to society is a frequent motivation behind their civic engagement activities. Their engagement is also supported by external factors in the enabling environment such as the constitutional framework process in Afghanistan that created formal opportunities for youth to contribute. The paper identified many of the limitations to youth’s civic engagement, such as poverty, trauma, and stigmas that devalued young people as competent leaders in society. The paper also noted that gender norms factored into the types of civic activities in which youth engaged and that girls faced gender stereotypes in their political engagement. The research findings were used to develop a series of policy briefs in order to inform policies and programming related to youth participation in peacebuilding. In addition, young researchers wrote blogs about their experiences.
Equal Access International
Radicalization and empowerment among young people associated with armed opposition groups in Northeast Nigeria
With this grant, Equal Access International produced two research papers that unpacked the relationship between radicalization and empowerment in the context of violent extremism in northeast Nigeria. They interviewed 22 former members of armed opposition groups, 15 of whom were under the age of 26 (10 women and five men). The research led to greater understanding of the motivating factors that led them to join the armed groups. Equal Access also presents a framework for understanding radicalization, called the Psychosocial Pillars of Radicalization, and illustrates the similarities between the processes of radicalization and empowerment. Radicalization is not inherently tied to violence; it is a process of becoming strongly rooted in one’s convictions and then taking action—or asserting agency—on those convictions. Thus, the research proposes that a positive youth development approach to countering youth violent extremism should not attempt to de-radicalize youth, but instead to “re-radicalize” them by helping them take action on their convictions in positive and empowering ways, instead of through violence.
Deliverables:
Evidence for Gender Transformative PYD
Mercy Corps
The Girl Research and Learning Power project (GRL Power) trained and supported adolescent girls in Jordan to conduct qualitative research on girls’ safety in public spaces. The purpose of the project was to put adolescent girls in the driver’s seat of research about an issue that directly affects them. The girls, who were between the ages of 13 and 19, designed their own research questions, conducted the interviews, analyzed the data, and presented back to the community where they conducted the research. Working in three cohorts in Amman, Madaba, and Balqa, 18 girl researchers interviewed 75 of their peers. The program trained the girls in research techniques and recruited three adult women researchers who were trainers and mentors for the girls throughout the process. The partnership with adult women researchers was particularly important for getting buy-in and support from the girls’ families for their participation in the research program. Another important learning from the program was the necessity of paying youth researchers for their work, especially girl researchers. The stipends they gave to the girl researchers incentivized their work, while challenging gendered expectations about unpaid labor. Implemented by Mercy Corps in collaboration with Action Aid, the girls’ research informed Action Aid’s monitoring, evaluation, adaptation, and learning plan for its Safe Cities Program.
Waves for Change
Moving beyond data disaggregation: utilizing evaluation systems to promote gender equality in sports development for youth at scale
Waves for Change (W4C), a surf therapy program for youth in South Africa who have been affected by violence and abuse, used this grant to (1) assess the impact of gender stereotypes and norms on boys’ and girls’ participation in their program and (2) train the W4C coaches and management staff—who are also youth—to be aware of gender norms and stereotypes and how they affect interactions with youth participants. Their participatory action research with 278 youth participants between the ages of 10-14 revealed the impact of gender norms and biases on the program. W4C learned that gender biases led teachers to recommend boys for the program more frequently than girls. Gender norms also influenced parents’ decisions to let their children participate; parents were less likely to allow girls to participate than boys. The grant also learned how inequitable gender norms influence the mental health status of children, contributing to girls’ low self-esteem and boys’ avoidance of expressing emotions. It found that gender norms also influence the program coaches, who are typically young men and women aged 18-26; many of the male coaches were uncomfortable expressing emotions and modeling positive mental health behaviors for youth participants, even though mental health is a critical part of the program. The gender-sensitivity training they led showed the importance of this type of training for peer mentors and coaches to help them become aware of their biases and change harmful attitudes and behaviors.
Deliverables:
Document Innovative Work in PYD
JA Worldwide
Amplifying the Voices of Young People Around the World
The JA Worldwide YouthPower Learning Grant funded the creation of six videos that highlighted the journey of young people toward entrepreneurship and employment. Each of the videos featured individual alumni—four young women and two young men—of JA Company programs in Indonesia and India. They shared how the program impacted them by teaching business and soft skills, providing mentorship and networking opportunities, and helping them start their own businesses or launch their professional careers. Some of the alumni used the skills and experiences from the JA Company program to secure formal employment, such as Nyi Mas Gianti Bingah Erbiana, or Gia, who is now a legal head at Mitsubishi in Indonesia. Another alumna, Angela Rompis from Indonesia, is a fashion designer and entrepreneur living in New York City. She has her own fashion line that is sold in fourteen boutiques across the United States.
These videos gave youth participants of positive youth development programming an opportunity to use their own voice to share what they learned and why work readiness programs, like JA Company, programs are so important.
Komo Learning Centres
KLC Youth-Led Club Documentary Project
This grant produced a series of nine videos that tell the story of the Komo Learning Centre’s Youth-led Club in Uganda. The Komo Learning Centre founded the Youth-led Club in March 2016 by mobilizing youth between the ages of 15-30 to come together and address the most pressing needs in their communities. In the videos, youth members tell the story of how they were recruited, how they got buy-in from the community, created a leadership structure, conducted a needs assessment of their community, identified club activities, designed and led a peer health education program, and confronted norms and biases about gender. They discuss how they balance power with adult staff of the Komo Learning Centre and what they learned throughout the first year of establishing and building the Club. The grant itself was a youth-led effort. Club members helped design the structure of the videos, interviewed other youth and community members, received training on video equipment operation, took part in the technical shooting of the video, participated in post-production editing, and provided feedback on the videos before they were finalized. The videos offer useful insight into the practicalities of running a youth-led club.
All nine videos can be viewed online:
YLC Concept, Impacts, and Expectations;
Recruitment and Club Structure;
Community Needs Assessment, Activity Prioritization, and Decision-Making;
Capacity Building through Trainings and Workshops;
Activity Planning and Design;
Activity Implementation and Evaluation;
Gender and Age Issues;
YLC Challenges, Solutions, and Benefits; and
The Process Of Making the Video Series.
In addition, Komo Learning Centres has held workshops with Ugandan stakeholders (e.g., at the National Youth Working Group Meeting) to present project findings, start a dialogue on meaningful youth engagement, and document stakeholder feedback.
Restless Development USA
Inspire, Influence and Inform: A Video Series Highlighting Young People’s Role in Positive Youth Development Programs
Restless Development’s grant created a series of seven videos that present practical tips and specific examples of how development organizations can enable young people to lead the design, implementation, and evaluation of development programs in their communities. The video series introduces a three-lens approach through which practitioners and policymakers engage young people in development: (1) as beneficiaries, (2) as partners, and (3) as leaders. It emphasizes that young people can and should be partners and leaders in all aspects of development, not just beneficiaries. One video shows how a group of youth in Karomojo, Uganda used a needs assessment to design a program for 1,700 young people that focused on peacebuilding to address land-related conflicts that affect youth livelihoods. Another told the story of Neema Kiwia, a volunteer in Tanzania, who created an entrepreneurship training program for survivors of abuse, harassment, and trafficking. A third shared how a group of young people in Nepal successfully advocated for a child marriage prevention policy using data they collected to help the government understand the scope of the problem. Through these examples, the series described how partner organizations and stakeholders can support young people by challenging them to take the lead on development activities while also giving them the resources and guidance they need. These videos are useful for policymakers and practitioners who are seeking examples and guidance for how to more meaningfully work alongside young people as leaders in development programming.
Watch the video series here
This series of videos can serve as a promotional and training resource for the entire YouthPower community including USAID Missions, private sector companies, research organizations, INGO partners, young people, and youthled organizations. It will be a go-to source of supporting information and guidance on best practices and insights into youth engagement for PYD. This grantee offers a broad lens to youth engagement, demonstrating multiple facets and applications of youth engagement across contexts, programs and individuals. This video series illustrates to viewers how to do youth engagement in a variety of settings.
Evaluating Cross-Sectoral Youth Programming
Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC)
Identifying Cross-Cutting Non-Cognitive Skills for Positive Youth Development
This grant funded a research study about youth perspectives regarding the importance of soft skills for their success in education and employment. The research conducted by Education Development Center compared youth perceptions with those of employers and educators in Rwanda, Honduras, and the Philippines. It found that youth often underestimate the extent to which soft skills are required and misunderstand how soft skills are valued differently by different sectors. The research also unearthed an issue that needs further exploration: when youth become more aware of the soft skills expected by employers, they are less likely to be satisfied with their life. It also found that qualitative data revealed a much more nuanced view than quantitative data about impacts of gender bias on perceptions about soft skills. Overall, the research points to the importance of assessing youth perspectives about soft skills in work-readiness programs, especially in contexts where young people’s ideals and skills are misaligned with what is demanded in school or at work. While work-readiness programming cannot be implemented well without needs assessments and market analyses, youth perceptions about the importance of soft skills are also essential for successful implementation.
Deliverables:
1) a photo gallery event shared images captured by youth participants that portrayed the soft skills they valued in context and environment, and
2) a written report, A Study on Cross-Cutting Non-Cognitive Skills: Uncovering Youth's Values, which describes findings obtained through analysis of survey data and focus group discussion data supported by youth’s photographic representations of the soft skills they value.
