Young People Can Foster Change. What Do We Do for Them?

Why is there unemployment among young university graduates, when companies complain about the lack of skilled workers? Why are so many secondary school graduates ill-prepared to solve practical problems in their daily life? And why do young people continue to smoke cigarettes and consume alcohol in large amounts, despite so many anti-tobacco and anti-alcohol campaigns?

To help answer these questions, the World Bank recently published the 2007 World Development Report, with the theme Development and the Next Generation. The report analyzes problems that youth face, while pointing out three strategic means to solve these issues:

• Opportunities: improve the quality of basic schooling and of education relevance to the job market, reform the school curriculum, enhance the level of flexibility within educational systems, and create local youth councils in order to promote their effective and efficient participation in community life)
• Capacity: create capacity for the younger generation to be able to choose among available opportunities; and
• The “second chance:” assist young people in need of recovery after they have made unsuccessful decisions.

In Moldova, the World Bank supports a number of projects and initiatives which contain components that are focused on youth-related issues. These include the Rural Investment and Services Project, the HIV/AIDS Control Project, the Quality Education in Rural Areas Project, the Social Investment Fund, and the Small Grants Program.

Another example of the World Bank’s support of youth in Moldova is the Youth Voices Program. The Group’s objective is to involve youth in the implementation of World Bank projects, the evaluation of the impact of Bank projects, and developing activities that can contribute to raising the level of youth involvement in the decision-making process.

“Today, we have many more opportunities in Moldova than our parents did. Unfortunately, very few young people know how to make the most of these opportunities, due to lack of information, indifference, a lack of confidence in their own abilities, and fear of making a wrong step,” says Elena Catâşev, member of the “Youth Voices” Group (YV). “We have tried to support young people with the “Youth Voices” Group by promoting their ideas, interests, and initiatives within the dialogue established with the World Bank.”

During a recent Civic Week organized throughout the country, YV, together with other 12 partner NGOs, worked to reach young people from disadvantaged areas, where no youth organization exists, along with groups of young people from rural areas and local youth NGOs.

In addition, YV has also contributed to the creation of a Local Youth Council in Bardar village, Ialoveni rayon; has communicated through the “Young and Active” radio show efficient models to involve youth in problem-solving processes; and monitored and evaluated Youth Friendly Health Centers (YFHC), which have been created with support from the HIV/AIDS Control Project that is financed by the World Bank.

“I was extremely happy to learn that such a Centre was established in my locality,” says Elena Radu, YFCH beneficiary in Călăraşi town. “There, I met there doctors that I can trust, I found out new things and I liked the way I was treated. As such, I decided to become a volunteer at the Centre. I like helping people and showing youth how to live a healthy lifestyle.”

Given current societal developments, young people need information that is most useful, especially assistance in starting work. Through the Rural Investment and Services Project, the World Bank formulated a component aimed at ensuring social and economic ownership by youth, including the organization of information campaigns and youth forums; the realization of feasibility studies; and assistance in credit negotiation with participating financial institutions, among other things.

The government’s support is crucial to the future of Moldova’s youth. It is certain that by drafting the right policies today, significant results can be attained in the future. A correction of the information gap that currently exits in Moldova will lead to an accurate evaluation of productivity, qualification and work skills of the young generation. In addition, poor families should not be forced to send their children to work before they have acquired basic education. And employers should be motivated to create jobs for the young people that are relatively inexperienced.

During the recent presentation of the 2007 World Development Report in Chisinau, Paul Bermingham, World Bank Country Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, pointed out that we should not let young people become a burden for the economy, but should rather contribute through adequate programs for their successful development, something that will help us grow economically and reduce the level of poverty.