Adolescents and Youth Task Team

Convening Organisations: Women’s Refugee Commission, UNICEF, Refugee Education Trust, International Rescue Committee

Task Team Objectives

The INEE Adolescent and Youth Task Team (AYTT) is made up of committed individuals from UN-agencies, international and national NGOs, practitioners, researchers and policy makers who work collaboratively on technical tasks to ensure a coordinated, accelerated and expanded, evidence-based response to the educational rights, needs and aspirations of adolescents and youth affected by crisis.

In crisis contexts, education and training has a critical role to play in the cultivation of an environment where all young people have the opportunity to develop a positive sense of agency and purpose in their lives, and to be actors for peace and stability, through access to quality learning, skills training and sustainable livelihoods. And yet, all too often, even where education in emergencies is available, the vast majority of programs target younger primary-aged children, with too little investment and attention paid to the specific developmental and protection rights and needs of youth. The INEE Adolescent and Youth Task Team aims to fill this critical gap considering that:

• More than 1 in 4 people in the world are youth
• Approximately 35% of the 14 million refugees are young people aged between 12 and 24
• Nearly 70 percent of youth live in poor countries
• Globally 96 million young women are illiterate, compared to 57 million young men. However, the gap has narrowed in the last decade, as girls’ school enrollments have been rising

The Task Team’s workplan in 2009-2010 is focusing on the following objectives:

• Ensure adequate and appropriate attention to adolescents and young people is fully articulated and, where necessary, strengthened in the revision of the INEE Minimum Standards
• Support the mainstreaming of adolescent and youth issues into the work of the IASC Education Cluster
• Facilitate the collation and generation of research relating to education for adolescents and youth in crisis context

Members

The INEE Adolescent and Youth Task Team is open to anyone who is interested in education for youth in crisis contexts. Currently, the Task Team is made up of approximately 100 members, working in a wide range of organizations and geographic locations. You can download the full member list here.

The conveners of the Task Team, with the support of an intern, send regular updates on the work of the Team, and highlight relevant news and resources. See here for previous updates: January 2009  February 2009  May 2009  September 2009  November 2009  January 2010  February 2010  March 2010  April 2010  May 2010  June 2010  August 2010

Co-Conveners:

• Jenny Perlman Robinson, Women’s Refugee Commission
• Naseem Awl, UNICEF
• Nicolas Servas, Refugee Education Trust
• TBC, International Rescue Committee

Intern: Barbara Zeus

If you are interested in participating in this Task Team, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Download the INEE AYTT Task Team Flyer here

Ongoing Work

This Task Team has identified a number of priority activities relating to the three objectives above. Brief descriptions of each area of work are below:

• INEE Minimum Standards Update
• Engagement with the IASC Clusters
• Building the Evidence Base

INEE Minimum Standards Update  The INEE Minimum Standards are the guiding document for the field of education in emergencies, chronic crisis and early recovery. They contain good practice and guidance for practitioners working in the field, and are also used as a tool for training and advocacy. This year the INEE Minimum Standards are being updated and the AYTT is taking this opportunity to review the content of the Handbook to ensure that attention to adolescents and youth is fully articulated and, where necessary, strengthened. A Reference Group of experts has been established, and has undertaken a close text-edit of the entire Handbook, including all Standards, Indicators and Guidance Notes,  in order to identify key areas that need to be addressed. Inputs have also been received through the organisation of a series of Consultative Workshops, which has allowed the participation of a wide range of practitioners and policy makers in locations including Kenya, Pakistan, Uganda and the USA.

Engagement with the IASC Clusters  The Cluster system is the central mechanism through which the international community coordinates action during humanitarian crisis. UN Agencies and NGOs work together in Clusters according to sectors of work e.g. Education, Protection, Health, etc. The Clusters aim to ensure that the response to a humanitarian emergency is well coordinated, and consequently, those affected by crisis receive a quality and accountable response. Currently, adolescents and youth receive very little attention from many of the Clusters. The AYTT is now working with the Education Cluster to ensure Adolescents and Youth are supported by this Cluster. The AYTT is working to:

• provide guidance to the cluster from a youth perspective
• ensure adolescents and youth issues are included in all training materials and field guides produced by the cluster(s)
• ensure that the assessment of needs carried out by national clusters ask the right questions relating to adolescents and youth
• reach out to other relevant clusters such as Protection, Early Recovery and Health to ensure a more holistic response to the needs of youth in humanitarian crisis through to recovery.

Building the Evidence Base  The lack of high-quality evidence as to which youth education programs are successful in emergency contexts is a major concern for those working in this field – what works and why does it work? Undertaking research and ensuring rigorous program evaluations will not only help us in our advocacy as we argue for more attention and funds for youth, but most importantly will help us improve our work so that youth affected by crisis are better served by what we do. The AYTT is working to collate the research that already exists, which will help us effectively articulate and advocate for successful, quality education programming for youth. We are also feeding into INEE’s Strategic Research Agenda work, ensuring youth issues are included and highlighting research on youth that is already underway by disseminating it and acting on findings.

Past Events

INEE Global Consultation, 31st March – 2nd April, 2009. Istanbul, Turkey

Several members of the Task Team participated in INEE’s Global Consultation 2009 in Istanbul, which included several sessions dedicated to youth issues, as well as a face-to-face meetings of the Task Team. You can find the Session Overview on Strategies to Increase and Improve Educational and Skills Building Opportunities for Displaced Youth here and the Session Overview on Comprehensive Approaches to VET and Youth Livelihood here.

Further Global Consultation Documents are available:

• You can visit the INEE Global Consultation 2009 web pages here.
• You can download the full INEE Global Consultation 2009 Programme here.
• You can download the INEE Global Consultation 2009 Outcome Report here.