Youth Action Plan
Uruguay
The process undertaken by the
National Youth Institute (MIDES – INJU) of Uruguay to discuss the 2015-2025
Youth Action Plan.
Description of the Experience:
Under the purview of the Ministry
of Social Development (MIDES), the National Youth Institute promotes discussion
and preparation of a 2015-2025 Youth Action Plan. With respect to this Plan,
the discussion focuses on 4 thematic areas:
-
Emancipation (Work and housing)
-
Education
-
Overall health and quality of life
-
Participation
This discussion takes place
through a participatory process involving youth organizations, NGOs working on
youth issues, young people in political parties, and young people not belonging
to organizations; and other government agencies that carry out youth-oriented
policies, programs, and activities under the selected thematic areas.
To encourage discussion,
workshops are held under the various thematic areas with each stakeholder
group.
The process concludes with a
National Youth Conference that brings together thousands of young people from
all over the country.
Among its priority issues, the
Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) through the National Youth Institute
(INJU) "promotes active participation, institutional capacity, and the
central role of young people as strategic players in the development process by
encouraging legal initiatives, territory-level projects, infrastructure,
resources, training, and technical assistance, to get them involved in the
development of public policies and in invoking their rights," as stated in
the 2011-2015 National Youth Plan. The MIDES/INJU has thus undertaken a series
of activities and programs to promote and strengthen the various forms of
participation by the country's young people from all walks of life, by
promoting – through socially-oriented practices – artistic and recreational
activities ranging from the promotion of rights, improvement of public spaces,
training activities, and environmental protection, among others, as well as the
generation of information about young people. Besides, the criteria laid out
for developing the 2011-2015 National Youth Plan are very explicit as to why: participation of young people should be
a central component of all youth policy planning, implementation, monitoring,
and evaluation processes. This calls for entities for youth organizations to
participate and processes to develop policies, which are conducive to real
participation and advocacy.
- Inter-agency cooperation and coordination: Public policy definition and implementation at the different levels and scales calls for continued effort to overcome the fragmentation historically characteristic of sectoral institutional interventions. Definition of strategic guidelines and formulation of the NYP as well as specific interventions at the local level should be approached in a coordinated manner by the various institutions involved.
- Underlying assumption of youth issues: The reality of young people reveals complex issues that call for technical know-how, systematic monitoring of their evolution, and evaluation of the impact of policies implemented. The dialogue involving academic, political and institutional stakeholders, and citizen participation forums must be a constant in public policy formulation processes for the state to be attentive to the problems and demands of the youth population and to quickly, properly, and effectively take the appropriate steps.
- Long-term vision: The Plan is intended as a tool whereby to strategically pursue youth-related public initiatives that focus on more than immediate action. The aim is to build a long-term framework to bring about significant and lasting changes in the situation facing our country’s young people; and in the way youth-related issues are viewed and approached.
Activities:
- 4 issues workshops, involving each of the following stakeholders: youth organizations, NGOs working on youth issues, and young people from political parties. These workshops covered the thematic areas of emancipation (work and housing), education, overall health and quality of life, and participation). They were conducted in April and May 2013.
- 42 decentralized workshops in all of the country's Departments, for young people who are not connected to youth organizations. Each young person took part in 2 workshops: one diagnostic workshop and another to craft a proposal on priority action.
- 1 round table per thematic area, for the other public agencies responsible for conducting youth programs and activities. These round tables were held from June to October 2013.
- Dialogue with representatives of academia in the various thematic areas.
- A National Youth Conference bringing together 2,000 young people from all across the country (This was held from October 11-13, 2013). The main objective was to produce a summary of all the proposals submitted by young people during the discussions.
- Production of a publication containing a summary of the overall process (Late 2013)
- Presentation and dissemination of the 2015-2025 Action Plan, scheduled for March 2014.
Outcomes:
- It was found that there was a core group of young people very much interested in participating in public bodies that formulate public policies on youth.
- It was found that quality level of courses of action were being proposed by young people.
- It was found that, once a serious work process is proposed, the various stakeholders (public sector, civil society, young people) embrace, legitimize, and strengthen that proposal.
Challenges:
- Need to strengthen mechanisms that bring together young people who are not members of organizations.
- Need to bolster virtual participation.
- Need for young people from the older cohorts to be involved in locally decentralized bodies.
- Given the extent to which this process was received by everyone involved and given the outcomes, there is a need to establish how frequently these bodies should get together.
Useful links:
- www.inju.gub.uy/
- www.facebook.com/midesinju
- 2015-2025 Action Plan:
Contact person details:
Ricardo Amorín
Legal Advisor to the Technical
Secretariat,
National Youth Institute/Ministry
of Social Development
E-mail address:
ramorin@mides.gub.uy
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