Purpose of the YP2LE Youth Civic Engagement Country Snapshots
The purpose of the YP2LE Youth Civic Engagement Country Snapshots is to learn about youth knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to youth civic engagement in 2021. The snapshots provide insights on youth civic engagement that help donors, implementing partners and other stakeholders design youth programs. The web-based, crowdsourced survey was administered to youth ages 18-35 across ten priority countries (Armenia, Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mali, and Serbia).
Survey questions included topics related to civic knowledge, trust in government, voting, participation in civil society, and volunteering. This activity included a survey experiment to test whether conflict or economic motivations affect youth responses related to civic and political behavior questions. The results also contribute to the YouthPower Positive Youth Development (PYD) Learning Agenda theme of how to best measure PYD constructs.
Broad analysis overview: Key Activity Results
Key takeaways from the survey data analysis include the following points.
- Among respondents who identified as female, 40 percent said that they did not vote in the last election, but 53 percent of women said they would vote in the next election. Only 21 percent of female respondents said that they will not vote in the next election.
- Among respondents who identified as male, 42 percent did not vote in the last election, but 47 percent plan to vote in the next election. Only 25 percent of male respondents said that they will not vote.
- Thirty-one percent of respondents indicated that relatives are the most likely to influence their opinions on social and political issues. Twenty-two percent of respondents indicated that friends were most likely to influence their opinions.
- Overall, among this respondent group, trust in government institutions and elections is low.
- The results of the survey experiment showed that reminding youth of either conflict or economic well-being had no effect on their responses to the civic engagement questions.
- It appears that youth feel that they can enact change, but not through formal government institutions.
For more information on study findings please access and download the study brief here.
How to use this dashboard
- Donors and implementing partners can use the data to inform the design of youth programs that target youth in the same countries with a similar demographic profile.
- The data can inform public knowledge on trends related to civic engagement among a targeted sample of youth.
- Researchers can use the raw data, weight the data, and conduct additional analyses.
- The data can help government policymakers understand youth perceptions on civic engagement and their level of trust in institutions amongst youth with a similar demographic profile to those surveyed. The results, taken together with data from youth with different demographic profiles, can contribute to the development of future youth policies.
- Local organizations could use these findings to increase volunteerism and youth engagement to solve local issues.
Dashboard limitations
The following limitations apply to the findings from the civic engagement snapshots:
- The sample of respondents is not representative of youth in the country but rather of youth with smartphones who received compensation to respond to these surveys.
- The results of the survey should not be generalized to all youth.
- Due to the nature of the sample, the results should not be compared across countries.
Navigate the Dashboard
Below is a summary of youth civic engagement perceptions and behaviors. You can filter the information by: (1) countries, (2) gender, (3) age, (4) survey target group, (5) education, and (6) financial status.
All the charts in this dashboard are based on the same dataset, which can be downloaded here.