Developing programmes and services specifically for young people, responsive to the needs and ideas of youth.
Consider age, gender, sexual orientation and cultural, ethnic and social diversity among youth; encourage respected adults and adolescents to take active leadership roles; utilize participatory training approaches; develop appropriate supporting information, education and communication material in collaboration with youth themselves; involve hard-to-reach youth (e.g. those out of school, living on the streets or in rural areas); develop adolescent-specific indicators for measuring programme goals; design management information systems to improve programme effectiveness and share information on which programmes work.
The aim of the youth project at the Ramallah Friends School in the Occupied Territories is to make contacts with concerned youth in the Ramallah community and around the world. These young people tend to see their futures in bleak and narrow terms; they are searching for avenues of self-expression through a philosophy of self-reliance. Among the components considered for the youth project are Young Leadership Programmes, Futures Studies and Human Empowerment Programmes.
Young people are highly motivated and creative, and programmes designed and managed in cooperation with them usually succeed best.