Empowering young people

Y Care International supported the promotion of youth participation in local and national democratic decision-making in Honduras from October 2002 to September 2005.

Young people under 30 make up almost three quarters of the Honduran population. The majority of these youth face high levels of poverty and discrimination, contributing to social exclusion and marginalisation. Their needs are seldom recognised or addressed by the Honduran government, as demonstrated by repressive legislation such as the anti-gang law.

How we helped
The project aimed to increase levels of youth participation in municipal and national youth commissions to influence public policy matters while increasing youth participation in the development of their local communities.

Over 1,000 young people from both rural and urban areas participated in training activities on community development planning, and civic rights and responsibilities. Their learning was put into action through youth-led community development projects and advocacy on the National Framework for Youth Policy, which has since been approved by Congress.

What we achieved

• More than 1,000 young people, over 50% of whom were out-of-school, were trained as youth and community development workers through taking part in weekly workshops on civil rights and responsibilities, advocacy and lobbying
• Young people were trained to be able to design and put into action community-level projects, including health promotion campaigns, fundraising, improving recreational facilities and street cleaning
• Trained youth groups effectively networked within municipal and national youth forums and gained representation on municipal and national government youth commissions. This enabled them to inform government policy and allocation of public funds
  

Please see the Foro Nacional de la Juventud de Honduras (National Youth Forum Honduras) website (in Spanish)