ROSTOV-ON-DON, RUSSIA, November 28, 2006 - Youth In The Northern Caucasus: From Risk To Opportunity traces the root causes of youth disenfranchisement in the North Caucasus republics and provides options for investing in this very important, yet neglected area. It also includes a qualitative survey in 6 regions of the North Caucasus, including Stavropol, North Ossetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Chechnya and Ingushetia. The study compares data for the North Caucasus youth with their counterparts in the rest of Russia, and finds that although some common trends exist, young people in North Caucasus face greater disadvantages which are magnified by the large size of the youth population in this region. "Providing productive lives for young people in what is the poorest and youngest region of the Russian Federation is one of the main objectives of the World Bank in the North Caucasus. The reason is that we regard young people as the most valuable asset for the development and security of the North Caucasus," says Gloria La Cava, The World Bank's Youth Program Coordinator in Europe and Central Asia, and main author of the report. High unemployment, poor educational preparation and corruption shape the school-to-work transition of many young people in the Russian Federation. Yet the Southern Federal District, and especially the North Caucasus republics, consistently has the lowest youth development indicators of any Russia's region. Youth in the region also face a unique set of contextual challenges, including socioeconomic inequalities, political marginalization, ethnic and religious tensions and conflict. The path that young people in this region follow in transitioning from school to work will significantly affect their ability to contribute positively to the economy, as well as to the social cohesion of the country as a whole, warn Bank experts. This report builds on the positive experience of youth policy and programming in the country and recommends a comprehensive approach to youth inclusion and empowerment, including larger and better targeted investments for youth. The study emphasizes the need to build capacity for youth programming at municipal and republic levels to effectively address the needs of young people. It is encouraging to note that a critical mass of young people and youth champions exist in the North
Caucasus, who are highly motivated to overcome the challenges before them. Immediate progress can be made on many fronts—education, the school-to-work transition, health, and the security environment—by engaging these young people as partners in the development process. Russia's authorities introduced Federal Targeted Programs for youth in the Russian Federation in the mid 1990s. The Bank fully supports these efforts, but the report cautions, that current activities are insufficiently funded, require hefty regional and local contributions, and focus on large, interregional implementation. Such programs do not adequately address regional disparities, nor do they encourage local stakeholders to participate in the design and implementation of youth programs. "First of all, we need an integrated approach to youth policy with higher levels of funding, more effective and better-targeted investments with more innovative instruments," explains Gloria La Cava. Youth policy implementation that ensures transparency and accountability is more
likely to be strongly endorsed by regional and local governments, youth stakeholders
and the donor community. The World Bank in particular would be ready to assist its Russian counterparts in developing an implementation framework, both technical and financial, along the lines described in this study, building on the initial North Caucasus Youth Security and Empowerment grant. The present study is only a first step toward developing an integrated approach to youth policy, a process that will benefit from the full participation of the wide range of local, regional and national youth stakeholders in the Russian Federation and North Caucasus. |
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