Investing in Young People to be Powerful Champions

In the months between July and October 2019, the Women Deliver Youth Engagement Team focused on applying key learnings to the next iteration of Digital University, provided young people with opportunities to engage on important issues through strategic communications work, and launched its next round of grants. This report provides an overview of Women Deliver’s progress in key areas of youth engagement in this reporting period. These efforts have been funded in part by Chime for Change as well as investments from a broad range of multi-year funding partners. 

Digital University 
The Youth Engagement Team’s work on Digital University during the reporting period focused on synthesizing feedback from those who completed the course, gathering updated technical inputs, and translating the received recommendations and refreshed content into planned enhancements for the 2020 cohort of Young Leaders. In order to inform enhancements to the platform itself, Women Deliver convened a Digital University committee of 2018 Young Leaders tasked with collecting qualitative feedback from their peers and analyzed data from the Digital University assessments. In order to inform technical content updates, the Youth Engagement Team utilized an organization-wide approach, collaborating with all Women Deliver teams to develop refreshed content. Enhancements are now underway to both the platform and its content with the goal of increasing accessibility and strengthening learning outcomes that will ultimately amplify impact for the incoming 2020 cohort and beyond.   

Small Grants  
In July, Women Deliver selected and notified the most recent group of grant recipients of Women Deliver’s Young Leaders Program grants initiative, which began in 2014. The program is rooted in the belief that young people must be provided resources for their innovative projects and advocacy campaigns at all levels of their advocacy journey. This new round of 23 grants is currently being implemented by Young Leaders and alumni across 14 countries. Women Deliver has awarded a grant to an adolescent for the first time;Milka Brenda Ininahazwe,a2018 Young Leader from Burundi, is implementing a grant to promote menstrual hygiene through sexual education workshops and public education campaigns for adolescents. 

Communications  
During the reporting period, Women Deliver continued to harness the power of communications to promote meaningful youth engagement and to elevate the voices of young people. Capitalizing on key calendar moments, Women Deliver drew focus to the needs and issues important to young people. To mark International Youth Day (12 August), Women Deliver launched its new position paper titled,Meaningful Youth Engagement: Sharing Power, Advancing Progress, Driving Change,which calls for redefining power and establishing new approaches that meaningfully engage youth to build a healthier, more equitable and sustainable society. Through a thoughtful multi-prong promotion plan, the paper received widespread attention and engagement. 
 
Additionally, on World Contraception Day 2019 (26 September), as in years past, Women Deliver led on a social media dialogue with support from partners. This year, Women Deliver took this important conversation from Twitter to a more youth-friendly and dynamic platform where many young people are: Instagram. For an inaugural#RealTalkwithWDon Instagram, Women Deliver brought together young people to test knowledge on contraception, bust myths, and share methods and resources. Almost 1,100 participants joined in, with many sharing video submissions. 

Through communications and media opportunities, the Youth Engagement Team also spotlighted young people as partners in the work to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equality. All Women Deliver Young Leaders and Alumni who received grants in the fall 2018 cycle culminated their advocacy projects with an opportunity for a spotlight in partnership with WellbeingForWomen. In total, 12 Young Leaders used thisplatformto publish their reflections on their advocacy projects. 

Closing  
During this reporting period, Women Deliver continued to bolster the capacity of youth advocates through the Women Deliver Young Leaders Program, resulting in greater influence of these advocates in the movement for gender equality. Looking forward, the Youth Engagement team is excited to co-create and convene the Latin America and Caribbean Multi-Country Workshop with Young Leaders and alumni in Panama City in December, advance the meaningful participation of young people at the Nairobi Summit and beyond in the lead up to Beijing +25, and finalize and implement a strategy for the recruitment and selection of the 2020 Young Leaders class. Women Deliver continues to be appreciative to Chime for Change for its generous support and looks forward to continuing conversations to strengthen collaboration.