Supporting Adolescents and Youth

Making the Case for Investing in Young People: Advocating for Youth-Friendly Policies

International commitments to young people
A demographic window of opportunity
Investment synergies
Investing in health
UNFPA at work: Influencing policy

Large cohorts of young people in developing countries are, or will soon be, of reproductive age. In many of these countries, over 40 per cent of the population is under 15. Investing in this younger generation is a human rights and social justice imperative. It is also a key strategy for poverty reduction and socio-economic progress. And, addressing the needs of young people is a matter of fulfilling internationally agreed-upon commitments. One of the ways UNFPA can be most effective is by encouraging countries to keep their promises to young people and to make the case for keeping their needs high on national policy agendas.

International commitments to young people

A number of international conventions and agreements have sought to establish young people’s rights and create the conditions in which to exercise them. And when they are given adequate support, young people can be a powerful force for helping countries meet their development goals.

Adolescent reproductive health rights and needs were placed on the international agenda for the first time by the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Cairo, 1994. The Cairo Plan of Action recognized the specific sexual and reproductive health needs of young people beyond the ‘disease’ and ‘procreation’ dimensions and focused on overall health, sexuality, rights and well-being of adolescents. The legally binding Convention on the Rights of the Child enshrines the human rights of people under 18 and calls for the provision of specific resources, skills and contributions necessary to ensure the survival and development of children to their maximum capability. The Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) in June 2001 emphasized the importance of ensuring access of young people to HIV education and services, and life skills for reducing their vulnerability to HIV infection.

In 2005, governments from all over the world met at the World Summit to reaffirm their resolve to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Many of the goals and related targets call for investments in young people’s health and development (in the areas of universal education, gender equality, improved maternal health, HIV prevention and employment). In 2007, universal access to reproductive health was added as a target for MDG 5, and adolescent pregnancy rates are one of the related indicators.

A demographic window of opportunity

The current youth ‘bulge’ in the population structure of many countries offers a one-time window of economic opportunity. For a large group of countries where fertility has declined sharply in the last two decades, the proportion of the working age population (15 to 60) will increase relative to younger and older dependent populations over the next few decades. With appropriate investments, policies and governance, countries can take advantage of this low dependency ratio, or 'demographic bonus', to launch economic, social, cultural and structural transformation.

Whether or not a country can take advantage of this bonus, however, depends on whether young people entering the workforce are literate and educated, healthy and hopeful, as well as skilled. Moreover, proper economic and social policies should be in place to equip and employ their growing numbers in productive ventures.

Failing to invest adequately in the full potential of young people will mean losing this potential demographic opportunity. The impact of AIDS in particular, could offset much of the potential gains. Moreover, ignoring the needs of young people carries important risks, not only for their lives, but also for national and global stability, security and socio-economic development.

In East Asia, where poverty has dropped dramatically, this demographic bonus is estimated to account for about one third of the region’s unprecedented economic growth from 1965 to 1990. In the poorest countries, where fertility remains high, the demographic window will not open for some time, but investments now in reproductive health services can hasten its arrival and ensure future dividends.

Investment synergies

Providing young people with education and opportunities often results in later marriage and childbearing, which can, in turn, affect health, population structures and economic prospects.
Education, especially for adolescent girls who often fall behind in school enrolment, has been shown to be a particularly strategic investment. Demographic and Health Surveys have consistently shown a positive relationship between education and good health, safe practices to prevent HIV, lower fertility, greater decision-making abilities and many other benefits. Data shows that better educated women, for example, raise healthier children, can afford to educate them, and are more likely to break cycles of ill health and poverty.

Moreover, for a majority of young people, economic life begins in the adolescent years — for those who can get jobs. But unemployment is high for this group. Enhancing the skills base and educational status — especially of the poorest groups — can translate into better jobs and better pay — a better chance to escape poverty and socio-economic exclusion.

Investing in health

Health investments are also critical. Preventing HIV, for example, offers a huge dividend: The economic benefit of a single averted HIV infection is estimated at $34,600 for a poor country with an annual per capita earnings of $1,000 per year. The human benefit is incalculable.

Without urgent measures to enable young people to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS, development gains, economic prospects — and their very lives — are being dangerously undermined, or lost. About half of all the people living with HIV/AIDS are under 25.

UNFPA at work: Influencing policy

UNFPA works to support youth both through programming and influencing policy. At the global and regional level, this includes participation in various forums where priorities are discussed and establish. Within UNFPA, a Youth Advisory Panel actually helps craft manuals for the staff about how to address youth issues.

At the country level, a new e-course is training young people on how to participate more effectively in the formulation of national development strategies, plans and processes including Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS), Sector-Wide Approaches and other development frameworks. This work is strategic in terms of being able to scale up successes in youth programming to the national level.

For example, in Viet Nam, UNFPA’s support for the Youth Union, a network of young people throughout the country, eventually led to the inclusion of reproductive and sexual health issues into the country’s first-ever Youth Law. The Youth Union and other oganizations involved in the Reproductive Health Initiative for Youth in Asia also successfully advocated for addressing the needs of vulnerable young people in the National Master Plan for Adolescent and Youth Health 2006 - 2010.

In Costa Rica, UNFPA has been supporting a broad participatory process for the formulation of a national youth policy. This process is noteworthy due to the high degree of youth participation — from the municipal level up — and the support provided for this in the policy development process. In fact, by law, the national youth assembly is authorized to amend and approve the final policy.

As a result of evidence-based discussions with the government about population dynamics, age structures and poverty reduction, these issues were in the government’s social and economic policy documents. With help from UNFPA and UNICEF, Nicaragua developed a national youth policy that integrates reproductive health into a broader framework of citizenship, peer education and political participation. Following a nationwide consultation with adolescents, the government integrated their reproductive health needs into its PRS, becoming the first country in the world to do so.

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