Youth Voices

Youth Voices

The Youth Voices program uses a hyper-localized approach where local Youth Voices Chapters (composed of external youth volunteers who are led by a country-based World Bank staff) provide a youth-focused angle and analytical work to World Bank lending operations.

By integrating youths’ contributions and addressing the challenges they specifically face, this will help World Bank interventions become more youth-informed. The vibrant chapter in Brazil was created back in 2018 and has been instrumental in the design and execution of several pilot projects in health, education, economic empowerment and rural development.

CHAPTERS

CHINA

  • Location: Beijing
  • Founding year: 2018
  • Achievements: Y2Y China was awarded US$25,000 at the 2019 annual WBG Youth Innovation Fund competition for the UrbUNX project. UrbUNX aims to connect Chinese technology entrepreneurs and development professionals with African startups and young, female, minority founders. UrbUNX provides business trainings, prototyping exercises, investment support and recruitment fairs to encourage youth employment and sustainable SME growth in Africa. UrbUNX also focuses on commercial products and services that are effective solutions to urban issues in Africa, such as water and sanitation, education and transportation. UrbUNX partners with UN Habitat (Kenya office), Future City Summit, Forbes 30 Under 30 awardee, Hult Prize, Nairobi Garage and many other corporate executives. We are looking for passionate volunteers to join us in the movement of connecting China with Africa.
  • Focus Area: External stakeholder engagement, community service project, international collaboration and youth leadership development.
  • Partners/Partner Organizations: Global Shapers Beijing II Hub, Future City Summit, Good City Foundation
  • Contact: Pui K. T. Peggy

JORDAN

  • Location: Amman
  • Founding year: 2018
  • Achievements: While the Jordan team has started the launch of the Youth Voices Chapter in 2018, the establishment was officially completed in 2019 with the selection of 15 members, 6 of which are female. The objective of the group is to support a systematic engagement of youth in dialogues with WBG teams, and to leverage the platform to share reflections on WBG country partnerships as well as on the design, implementation, and evaluation of WB interventions. Key achievements include members’ participation in the Mashreq Digital Economy Forum which was organized by the Government of Jordan and the World Bank on July 29-30, 2018. Additionally, a meeting with Tania Meyer, WB Resident Representative in Jordan, and a group of the Jordan country team members was held to solicit input and reactions on the most recent results of the Doing Business 2019 and Human Capital Reports on Jordan was among the key highlights of 2019.
  • Contact: Lina Abdallah; Khalid Moheyddeen

LEBANON

  • Location: Beirut
  • Founding year: 2018
  • Achievements: The main objective of the chapter is to support a systematic engagement of youth in dialogues with WBG staff on issues related to the Bank’s support in the respective countries. To this end, four types of activities were included: (i) feedback provision on WBG projects and strategies; (ii) events organization; (iii) knowledge and capacity building; and (iv) stakeholders’ consultations. Key achievements include thematic meetings with WB experts with the following dual objectives: first to raise awareness among youth on the various sectors the WB is engaged in Lebanon, and second to get youth’s perspective and challenges they face in sectors such as education, energy, health, social protection, impact bonds with FCI team and visiting UK Social Finance team. Members of the Lebanon YAGs were also included as panelists in different events to gain an understanding of youth’s challenges: (i) Maria Tannous was a panelist in the regional launch event of the World Development Report 2019, as well as the World Bank MENA Education Flagship Report entitled Expectations and Aspirations: A New Framework for Education in the Middle East and North Africa – both held on November 30, 2018 in Beirut; and (ii) Cynthia Bakalian was a panelist in the youth session at the MENA Regional Urban Resilience Urban Resilience Conference held in Beirut on April 2-4, 2019.
  • Contact: Angela Elzir; Mirvat Haddad

TANZANIA

  • Location: Dar es Salaam
  • Founding year: 2019
  • Achievements: The Tanzania Chapter is still in the brainstorming phase but has now established a Youth Voices team based in the Tanzania Country Office. The team members are all Tanzanian and passionate to better involve young people in decision-making and provide them with a sustainable platform to share their voice. The YV Tanzania team is finalizing their Results Framework and Mission statement, whereby the key objective is for Youth Voices to be one of the institutional channels through which the World Bank can be more systematically informed of youths’ opinions in Tanzania. This will be achieved through the use of (i) creative mediums such as film and photography, inviting young students and artists to story-tell and share their realities on set issues through these medium; (ii) establishing a strong web-platform, applications, and network with key stakeholders, to support youth skills development and professional support; and (iii) facilitating youth discussion and debates on key issues, to have youths in Tanzania included in the World Bank Group Citizen Engagement.
  • Contact: Gemma J. N. Todd

GEORGIA

  • Location: Tbilisi
  • Founding year: 2004
  • Achievements: The Georgia YVG is composed of volunteers coordinated by one World Bank Consultant (STC) and a staff member (TTL) and a budget allocated by the Georgia Country Management Unit. Achievements to date include, writing a set of seven short real-time stories (“Lives Changed, Thanks to the Internet”) about the impact of the Internet on human lives, which was included as Appendix in the World Bank’s recommendations to the Government of Georgia on A National Broadband Development Strategy and Implementation Plan 2019/2025. The team has also conducted interviews with beneficiaries of the Empowering Local Community Entrepreneurs project (funded by the JSDF, supported by the WBG and implemented by a local NGO) and produced short videos capturing stories of three small business owners. The videos were posted on the World Bank ECA Facebook page as well as on the World Bank Georgia webpage. Additionally, the team attended a TOT on Advocacy as a result of which organized and delivered one-day training courses to youth in the regions, focusing on what advocacy is, why and how to engage in advocacy and what factors contribute to the success of advocacy initiatives. Finally, the team created/published a Mental Health Calendar, aiming to raise awareness and encourage open discussions about mental health issues as well as popularize those activities that, based on various scientific studies, impact our mental health in a positive way. The Mental Health campaign was also implemented via the group’s FB page. The group developed a blog-post “Spotlight on Mental Health Month – Youth Voices from Georgia” which was published on the WB ECA blog (together with the actual Calendar).
  • Focus Areas: This year the group is focusing on three topics: internet for development; mental health; and promoting youth skills in fundraising, proposal writing, and advocacy skills.
  • Contact: Tiniko Abuladze; Sophia Georgieva
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