Youth & the MDGs

Having recognized this need, there are areas where preventive policies appear key to breaking the cycle of poverty as well as to achieving several Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly on health, education, equal opportunities for women, and youth employment and social inclusion.

Investing in the Early Years

Interventions during pregnancy, around birth and in the early life years produce large and immediate benefits by reducing the risk of adverse outcomes in the short term, but also create the conditions for improved outcomes and more effective interventions at subsequent stages. For example, chances of school enrollment are increased, and risk of vertical transmission of HIV/AIDS is reduced. Moreover early interventions are the most effective in improving equity and breaking the poverty cycle because the disparity of vulnerabilities, risks, and adverse outcomes between the poor and the better off is greater among infants and young children than at older ages.

The role of the World Bank is to maintain and increase its support to strategies, programs and interventions that have been proven effective in preventing and mitigating risks during the earliest years of life. Within these, more attention should be paid to areas that appear key to the achievement of the MDGs which require scaling up (nutrition, child health, early child development linked to early support to parenting skills), or have been relatively neglected (essential newborn care, prevention of domestic violence, and children’s environmental health).

Recent evidence supports the need for this new focus:

• Newborn deaths represent almost two-thirds of infant deaths and over one third of under five deaths in many countries. Neonatal diseases produce often severe and permanent damage. Effective and low-cost interventions to reduce neonatal deaths and disease exist and need to be integrated into health systems.
• Early support to at-risk parents can improve the health, nutrition and cognitive development outcome for the child, contribute to prevent child abuse and neglect as well as improve the health of the mother.
• A substantial proportion, more than 40%, of the global burden of child death and disability is environment related. The proportion is even higher in the poorer countries. Ensuring better water and sanitation and reducing exposure to indoor air pollution and hazardous chemicals would help to prevent many of these deaths, reduce cognitive impairment during the early years and avoid long term adverse outcomes.

Increased efforts in the above areas imply complementing various sectoral investments and are consistent with the strategic directions of acting as early as possible along the life cycle. The recommendations of international forums also provide support for action in these areas.

Investing in the early years is key to the achievement of :

• MDG 4. Reduce child mortality
• MDG 5. Improve maternal health
• MDG 6. Combat HIV/AIDS malaria and other diseases
• MDG 2. Achieve universal primary education

and contributes to the achievement of:

• MDG 1.Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• MDG 3.Promote gender equality and empower women

Investing in Youth

The rationale for investing in youth is:

• To preserve the benefits of investments in children - when these investments have occurred;
• To counteract lack of earlier investments and;
• To address new risks such as those related with entry into the world of work and an active sexual life.

Investing in youth has the added value that it is an investment with intergenerational effects and that it contributes to create potentially powerful agents for change.

Furthermore, unless appropriate policies are in place and adequate resources are allocated, the reinforcement and perpetuation of increasing youth poverty and exclusion will be amplified by the size of the current youth cohort, which numbers over one billion, the largest ever. Investing in youth is also key to the achievement of several MDGs.

The role of the World Bank is - in collaboration with other international and national partners and the young themselves - to support:

• Quality education (formal/non-formal/informal);
• The acquisition of life-long learning and youth healthy behaviors;
• Youth employability and employment;
• Where feasible, the development of a comprehensive National Youth Policy.

There are an increasing number of reasons for focusing on these issues:

• The large number of young people who are not in school or at work or in education is a very worrying trend.
• Youth unemployment rates have been rising. Young people actively seeking work are two to three times more likely than older generations to find themselves unemployed.
• The interconnections among the above factors and other risk factors are strong. Youth unemployment is classified as one of the key determinant leading to protracted or re-emerging conflict. Unemployment also leads to frustration and idleness, contributing to drug abuse, gang violence, other forms of interpersonal conflict, and risky behaviors.
• Youth are key to successful prevention of HIV/AIDS, and formal and informal education plays a crucial role in adopting healthy behaviors.

Additional analytic work and applied research also needs to be carried out with a focus on youth exclusion factors, develop innovative approaches for youth employment, income generation and social inclusion, and evaluate the returns of policy and programs. Youth investments and resource allocation should be aligned with actual youth needs, clarifying areas where youth investments facilitate the mission of poverty reduction and providing a road map for promoting youth empowerment and participation in the development process.

Investing in youth is key to the achievement of:

• MDG 5. Improve maternal health
• MDG 6. Combat HIV/AIDS malaria and other diseases

and contributes to the achievement of:

• MDG 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• MDG 3. Promote gender equality and empower women
• MDG 8. Develop a global partnership for development (indicator: unemployment rate of 15-24 year olds)

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