Inclusion and exclusion in youth economic opportunities: identities, opportunities, and barriers

• In Event: Highlighted Session: How youth-led research surfaces gaps and influences policy in local youth workforce development systems

Proposal

What does a synthesis of youth-led research reveal about shared and unique barriers that youth experience in the transition to work? Under the USAID-funded Youth Excel activity, over 40 local, community-based youth organizations conducted implementation research in their specific areas of interest but aligned with the theme of strengthening youth economic opportunities.

This report is a meta-synthesis of the implementation research (IR) performed by community-based, youth-led organizations in three different sites in Guatemala, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Four (4) young researchers from three (3) different countries conducted this learning activity. This meta-learning activity is centered around the themes of inclusion and exclusion in youth economic opportunities. This report highlights commonalities and differences across place-based groups as well as identifies contextualized learnings that are specific to certain groups. Findings in this report are also presented using a positive youth development framework, which acknowledges that youth who hold certain identities are not at a deficit, but that societal institutions and structures have different impacts on different youth.

The content of this report is completely intersectional. This report draws from intersectionality as described by Crenshaw (1989) in “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex”, where she argues how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics “intersect” with one another and overlap and influence how society sees an individual and reacts to them.

The report helps the reader to understand the intersections present in what young researchers and practitioners have been learning, their similarities and differences in program implementation, and their lessons learned. The first section highlights the methodological approach used to compile the findings. The second section describes the findings, which is split into five main sections: structural barriers, identity barriers, opportunities for support and collaboration, entrepreneurship, and implementation research process learnings. Considering the scope of work for this report, findings focus heavily on the intersectional barriers to economic inclusion rather than proposed solutions. The last section proposes next steps for continued research.

The presentation will highlight the particular barriers and gaps that young people in the three (3) countries experience in their transitions to employment, as uncovered by their own research, as well as the recommendations made by the meta-synthesis learning team based on their analysis.

Author

• Christopher Johnstone, University of Minnesota