Strategy: Conceptual Framework

A conceptual framework helps to identify key areas of investment in children and youth. It rests on the four basic arguments: 1. There is evidence that it is economically efficient to invest in the early years. 2. The biggest global youth cohort ever produces a state of demographic urgency which puts a political imperative on policy makers to address children and youth issues.

3. It is indispensable to take a life-cycle approachwhen engaging with children and youth, acknowledging forward and backward linkages of programs.

4. Interventions, in order to be effective, have to be multisectoralin terms of stakeholders and policy areas.

At its core the framework identifies nine interlinked building blocks identifying key areas of intervention along the life-cycle. Interventions corresponding to the building blocks at the bottom of the framework are most important in the early years, followed by primary education and child protection, which are especially relevant for children between 5 - 10.  The upper four blocks, ranging from education to healthy behaviors and youth employment, contain policies and programs geared towards youth up to 25 years of age.

Success will depend on increased synergy among sectors  with specific attention to three broad categories creating an enabling environment for the well-being of children and youth:

• Policies and institutions which enable C&Y investments to succeed, both at the sectoral and macro level. 
• Families and communities which support, benefit from, and thereby have ownership of the strategies and interventions.
• Participation and empowermentof youth (and children, where possible) at all levels development.

Top