National Youth Policies and U.S. Agency for International Development Youth in Development Policy: Critical Exploration of Opportunities for Girls

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Money, Aid, and Education

Abstract

Policies for youth and youth development are not new. Many countries now have National Youth Policies (NYPs) that may or may not be well integrated with aspects of their Educational Policy. In October 2013, USAID released its own Youth in Development policy. This paper provides a critical feminist analysis of several National Youth Policies and USAID’s youth in development policy, especially regarding opportunities for girls and young women and their approaches to gender equity and mainstreaming; the paper will also explore how the NYPs and the USAID policy converge and how they diverge on issues for girls and gender mainstreaming. Representative NYPs from several regions of the world including Asia, Africa, and Europe are analyzed for content.

Author

• Sandra L. Stacki, Hofstra University