Adolescence participation
Working with adolescents and tapping into their potential as well as providing them with opportunities to develop, participate and thrive to contribute to and be part of the development and maintenance of peace and stability in Tajikistan
The challenge
Youth engagement is an important instrument for building civic participation and overcoming social exclusion and power inequity. It can help to strengthen young people’s connectedness to their communities and build social cohesion and a sense of belonging for adolescents and youth. This is particularly important for work with vulnerable and marginalized groups, such as those not in education, employment or training (NEET).
More than 83 per cent of adolescents in Tajikistan do not know any human rights.
Through consultations and dialogue with young people can make the policy and programmatic decisions more efficient and tailored to the needs and aspirations of young girls and boys, study (UNICEF) demonstrates a very low level of civic engagement of Tajik adolescents. Participation of adolescent in community meetings of their mahallas is 10 per cent (10-14 years old). Only 3 per cent of adolescents, reported in the Study, have referred to head of community for issues related to children and adolescence.
The solution
UNICEF in Tajikistan is developing sustainable youth consultative mechanisms based on innovative approaches, platforms, and tools to amplify the voices of adolescents and youth and connect their needs to policy-making processes both on national and community level.
Special curriculum on peacebuilding competencies has been developed with a focus on participation and social cohesion among adolescents and young people and taught through series of training events, including modular training programmes in non-formal education settings such as Youth Centres, National Association of Volunteers of Tajikistan.
Empowered with competencies, young people are engaged in youth consultative mechanisms for decision making at local authority level: a model of Child- and Youth-Friendly Local Governance that is being piloted in four remote districts.
Building on this experience UNICEF will establish platforms for consultations with youth within a contextualized model of a child- and youth-friendly local governance in eight districts of the country, with potential expansion at the national level.
