Abstract
African youth face great challenges and great opportunities. Positive youth development (PYD) programs have the potential to support youth in Africa to reach their full potential. Yet PYD approaches must be tailored if they are to be contextually and culturally responsive and relevant. The purpose of this paper is to provide an evidence-informed description of one such program, the 4-H Senegal PYD program. We first provide a conceptual background for the program, informed especially by the literature on global and cross-cultural PYD. We then share empirical results of a qualitative case study focused on the establishment, scale-up, and institutionalization of the 4-H Senegal program. Our case study results elucidate culturally responsive PYD program adaptations that corroborate conceptual framings of cross-cultural PYD work while also pointing the way towards promising practice recommendations. We hope this conceptual and empirical summary of the 4-H Senegal program can contribute to the field by informing practice and guiding other innovative efforts to adapt PYD models and approaches across contextual and cultural bounds.
Highlights
Introduction and BackgroundAfrican youth face great challenges and great opportunities
The purpose of this paper is to provide an evidence-informed description of one innovative Positive youth development (PYD) initiative in Africa, the 4-H Senegal PYD program
In the remainder of this paper, we provide an evidence-informed description of 4-H Senegal, based on a qualitative case study of the establishment, scale-up, and institutionalization of the program
Summary
African youth face great challenges and great opportunities. According to the United Nations, it is “patently evident that engaging youth fully in sub-Saharan Africa’s development is not a matter of choice, but rather an imperative for national development” By 2050, SSA “will make up 33 percent of the world youth population, up from 19 percent in 2015 During this period, sub-Saharan Africa’s youth population will increase by 522 million while the rest of the world’s youth population declines by 220 million” Sub-Saharan Africa’s youth population will increase by 522 million while the rest of the world’s youth population declines by 220 million” Reflective of this demographic dividend, in their adoption of the African Youth Charter in 2006, the African Union recognized that “Africa’s future cannot be mapped out, and the African Union’s mission fulfilled, without effectively addressing youth development, empowerment, and the preparation of young people for leadership and the fulfillment of their potential” (African Union, 2006, as cited in United Nations, 2007, p. 104)
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