Global Youth Consultation 2011
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Global Youth Consultation 2011 Report on the status of youth in the IFRC Based on the evaluation of the implementation of Pledge 129 presented at the International Conference in 2007 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2 2. Youth volunteer base ................................................................................................................... 3 Active volunteers ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Proportion of youth .................................................................................................................................... 3 Youth in different age groups ..................................................................................................................... 4 Gender balance ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Promoting volunteering .............................................................................................................................. 5 Communicating effectively in Spain ........................................................................................................ 6 3. National Youth Policy .................................................................................................................. 7 Youth engagement strategy in Australia ................................................................................................ 8 4. Youth Engagement in decision making process ............................................................................. 9 Dialogue through generations in Finland.............................................................................................. 10 5. Youth programmes .....................................................................................................................11 Climate Change adaptation and disaster response .................................................................................. 11 Enable healthy and safe livelihoods .......................................................................................................... 12 Promote social inclusion and a culture of non-violence and peace ......................................................... 12 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................. 13 Youth empowering youth in Mexico ..................................................................................................... 14 6. Regional youth networks ............................................................................................................15 Joint efforts for better results in East Africa ......................................................................................... 16 7. National partnerships .................................................................................................................17 8. Main findings of the additional interviews ..................................................................................17 Youth add value ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Best ways to encourage and empower the youth .................................................................................... 19 9. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................19 Annex 1 Criteria for Excellence Annex 2 Survey Questions Annex 3 List of the 110 National Societies that replied to this Consultation Annex 4 List of the 72 National Societies signatories to the Pledge 129 1 1. Introduction This Global Youth Consultation was established in order to report on the Pledge 129 and to map the present situation of youth in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. It aims at generating a better appreciation of the contemporary concerns of young people, and motivates their proactive engagement to innovate solutions to social challenges including bridging the inter- generational divide. This document also provides a base to encourage National Societies to further develop their youth volunteer base through the sharing of good practices and case studies in the area of youth engagement. The data collection for this report was done through a tailor-made on-line survey focusing on the topics defined in the Criteria for Excellence (cf. annex 1) developed in the area of youth. The survey (cf. annex 2) was made available on line and was shared with all National Societies. While an informative email was sent to Presidents and Secretary Generals, the persons in charge of youth in each National Society were invited to fill in the questionnaire. Thanks to 110 National Societies (cf. annex 3) that replied to the questionnaire of this Global Youth Consultation, we are able to illustrate how youth are taking action at community level. In addition to the survey 21 phone interviews were conducted in order to get more in-depth data on particular topics. The participation by zone is shown in the chart below. As the number of National Societies in each zone varies, it is interesting to see how many National Societies from the total amount of National Societies in each zone answered the survey Total amount of answers by zone Percentage of answers by zone Europe & Central Asia 32 60% Europe & Central Asia Americas 27 77% Americas Africa 25 52% Africa Asia Pacific 17 47% Asia Pacific MENA 6 33% MENA 0 10 20 30 40 Series1Answered Series2Not answered 2 2. Youth volunteer base Active volunteers The consulted Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies were asked to provide the number of active volunteers (volunteering at least 40 hours per year) in their National Society. Some of the numbers given were estimates and some exact numbers based on databases. The total number of active volunteers in National Societies that completed the survey is somewhere between 6 to 8 million, thus representing quite well the voluntary base of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in general. Among these National Societies, almost 25% declared to have less than 1,000 active volunteers and approximately 50% have less than 5,000 active volunteers. Another peak can be seen in the amount of those National Societies that have 10,000 to 50,000 active volunteers. Amount of active volunteers in the National Society 0 - 1000 24% 1,000 - 5,000 25% 5,000 - 10,000 12% 10,000 - 50,000 21% 50,000 - 100,000 6% 100,000 - 500,000 10% 500,000 - 1,000,000 2% 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Highest numbers: Indonesia and Iran. The Indonesian Red Cross Society and the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran declared to have more than 500,000 active volunteers. Proportion of youth Young people (in this survey defined as 35 years old or younger) seem to represent a large part of the global active volunteer base. Around 54% of National Societies declared to have more than half of its volunteer base comprised of youth. 3 Percentage of youth among volunteers 0 - 10 % 5 10 - 30 % 20 30 - 50 % 20 50 - 70 % 21 70 - 90 % 31 90 - 100 % 2 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Among the National Societies that answered the survey, some have a separate organization for youth, where the number of youth volunteers is naturally 100%. With these National Societies the number of youth volunteers has been compared with the volume of volunteers in the mother organization. When comparing the percentage of youth volunteers with the total number of volunteers in these National Societies, it can be seen that the total percentage of youth in general is somewhere between 36 to 47 %. This is in line with the Global Youth consultation of 2005-07 that showed that about 41% of the global volunteer base was made of youth. It seems that great representation of youth (over 70% of active volunteers) can be seen in National Societies of all sizes; some have less than 200 active volunteers, some over 500,000. The same thing applies for those National Societies that have less than 30% youth among its volunteers. Thus, it seems that the size of the National Society has no clear connection with the amount of youth involved in its services and activities. The amount of National Societies with a large number of youth volunteers is fairly similar in all the areas except for Asia Pacific, where among the National Societies that answered the survey as much as 31% declared to have more than 70% of their volunteers youth. The small amounts of youth (less than 30%) seem to be more usual in the Americas and Europe & Central Asia zone, the latter reaching as high as 32% of National Societies having less than 30% youth volunteers. Youth in different age groups The age group 14-25 years old is the largest one, followed by the groups 26-30, 6-13 and 31-35 in this order. The age range 14-25 is also the widest range, but a weighted average shows that this group still remains by far the biggest. This order is not only applicable globally but also in each of the respective regions showing, that the Red Cross Red Crescent attracts especially adolescents and young adults. 4 Gender balance The gender balance among volunteers is nearly the same as in the previous consultation done in 2005-2007. The current global gender balance is an average