Announcement and Invitation to Participate in Short Course
Background
Today more than 50 % of the world’s young people (aged 10-24 years) live in the Asia Pacific Region. This demographic situation of a “youth bulge” has drawn increasing attention about the role of young people in economic development, national security and respecting cultural heritage among other issues. We know that the environments in which young people live, learn and work coupled with personal behaviour have lasting implications for young people’s health and livelihoods, and indeed future generations.
Evidence suggests that needs of young people, and in particular adolescents, have not been adequately addressed and there is now urgency for policy-makers, program planners and managers to focus on adolescents and youth “indicators.” The lack of expertise and/or formal training of many people charged with adolescent and youth policy and programming, poses a significant challenge to supporting youth initiatives.
This short course to be run from 24th to 28th June offers an excellent opportunity to address this expertise gap and strengthen available technical support for advancing adolescent and youth development in specific countries and across the Asia Pacific.
Short course objectives include:
• Build skills to critique a number of frameworks used to address adolescent development needs
• Apply frameworks to the important content issues for youth and adolescents in resource constrained settings in Asia Pacific
• Develop strategies for effective engagement of adolescents, and their communities to improve adolescent health, participation and well-being
• Build capacity to support national adolescent and youth programmes through strengthened partnerships
Course content, approach and methods
The short course content covers a broad range of topics including: frameworks for understanding adolescents; the relationship between gender, health and learning; safety, violence & protection; sexuality, reproductive health and HIV prevention; risk and protective factors; and access to education.
The course will use numerous country case studies to consider: role of policy and legislation in driving the youth agenda: pathways to employment; theory and practice of a rights based approach; youth friendly services; young people in emergencies; adolescent girls as a point of convergence; and promising development models.
The course will be participatory using interactive methods and building on participants existing skill base. Activities will include: lectures; case studies; guided group activities; field visits; role play group based problem solving; and critical analysis.
Who is this course for?
The course is open to all government, INGO and NGOs counterparts as well as UN focal points working to support adolescent research, policy and programming. The course is also open to young people working in a significant capacity to advance adolescent’s issues at different levels and across sectors. Priority will be given to country teams including government counterparts, NGOs and UN staff.
Course costs
There is no course fee as these costs are covered by UNICEF, UNFPA and UNESCO. Please note that all participants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation costs or have confirmed funding by an organisation within their country.
Course details
This 5 days short course has been developed by the University of Melbourne supported by UNICEF, UNFPA and UNESCO, and implemented in the region over the last three years, being updated annually with new materials. The course will be run in Bangkok from 24th to 28th June.
Further details will be provided in the administrative note, registration form and the draft agenda which will be provided to successful applicants.
Course contact points
This course is being co-ordinated by UNICEF, UNFPA and UNESCO.
Please note that funding is not available to cover participants’ costs.
For further information about the course, please contact:
Tippawan Na Lumpoon, Tippawan@unicef.org
(Download the Announcement)