Directory: Important Agencies 2

• Sections:     Intro & Context | Themes & Trends | Donors & Funds

3. Directory of International Donors Funding the Youth Sector

THE WORLD BANK AND THE WORLD BANK GROUP (WBG)

http://go.worldbank.org/Z12D7RZVZ0

By the early 2000s senior management at the World Bank had become aware that the bank needed to address the children and youth agenda in a more systematic and integrated manner. The Children & Youth (C&Y) team was established in late 2002 within the Human Development Network to guide and foster coordination and partnerships that contribute to more effective children and youth development work.

MANDATE:

The World Bank can engage with young people ages 15 to 24 to further the objectives below. The bank is aware of the limitations of its definition of youth. An extensive discussion of this subject in relation to World Bank objectives is available at http://go.worldbank.org/RVVTZLXKK0.

OBJECTIVES:

  • to provide the World Bank with a strategic framework for action in the area of C&Y;
  • to support regions in developing, implementing, and monitoring C&Y operational plans;
  • to improve coordination among sectors, networks, and regional work;
  • to ensure consistency with companion development strategies in human development, social protection, social development, urban strategies, gender, and other sectoral groups;
  • to provide effective and innovative knowledge management;
  • to promote improved C&Y learning outcomes across sectors and countries;
  • to contribute to shaping the World Bank’s collaboration on C&Y issues with other international agencies and donors;
  • to raise additional funds; and
  • to facilitate dialogue with children and youth worldwide, especially in developing countries.

BUDGET:

Concrete figures are not available to the public for expenditures by the World Bank in the youth sector. Nevertheless, the World Bank has invested extensive resources in activities to develop and consult on its C&Y strategy and, as per the objectives of the C&Y team, to support the implementation, conduct, and monitoring of operational plans for children and youth regionally and locally. The World Bank has two important grant-making programs relevant for international youth-led initiatives and organizations, and several important operational programs, in addition to occasional lending for the development of a national youth or other relevant policy.

Grant-Making: The World Bank has several funding mechanisms for financing youth-led projects and initiatives.

The Civil Society Fund (CSF)

http://go.worldbank.org/U7ZGIQEZ10
http://go.worldbank.org/GU6VZREZ40

CSF (formerly known as the Small Grants Program) is managed out of approximately 70 countries with some 400 grants awarded annually. A grant—averaging US$4,000—provides seed funding for innovative activities that enable citizens’ groups to initiate programs that enhance and influence development outcomes. The program emphasizes activities that strengthen partnerships with the public and the private sectors, as well as with other civil society organizations. Youth civic engagement remains a high priority, as many Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) chose to focus their CSF activities on youth. In FY08 CSF began to manage a US$3 million dollar grants portfolio of the Global Public-Private Partnership and Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Youth Investment.

The Global (Public-Private) Partnership for Youth Investment (GPYI)

http://go.worldbank.org/NVHL1NT170
www.lac-developmentmarketplace.org

GPYI is a formal, enduring relationship between partner organizations that share a common mission—to improve the lives of young people through their economic advancement and social inclusion. GPYI is supported by companies, foundations, civil society organizations, private corporations, philanthropists, and international organizations. As host of the GPYI, the World Bank Group (WBG) enables the use of its resources (financial, technical, and staff), its name, reputation, and access points to achieve the GPYI’s goals. The next round of funding, to be disbursed in 2010, has been earmarked for activities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Operational Programs: In addition to grant-making, the World Bank also has a number of operational programs addressing young people.

Youth 2 Youth Community

http://go.worldbank.org/HQB6GE24C0

The Youth 2 Youth Community is a network of young World Bank employees working in partnership with other young people outside the organization to further the interests of youth in the development context. The community serves as a mechanism to channel the ideas of internal young staff into the World Bank, channel the ideas of external young people into the World Bank, and build partnerships between these two groups. The community also provides a professional and social network for young professionals interested in development, as well as a place to enhance learning opportunities.

Youth Voices: Youth Consultative Groups at the Country Level

http://go.worldbank.org/3100EZ9FI0

Following the initiative of the World Bank’s Peru office, Youth Voices groups are active in 15 countries. The establishment of Youth Voices groups is—by definition—a country-led and country-owned process. The groups engage in a variety of activities depending on the country context. Generally, they are active in providing input to country assistance strategies and other policies that target or affect young people. The World Bank is considering offering Youth Voices groups with innovative ideas for relevant projects mini-grants of between US$500 to $1,000. Such support will help Youth Voices groups to engage in activities relevant to the World Bank and young people.

Post-Conflict Fund (PCF) and Low-Income Countries under Stress Fund (LICUS)

http://go.worldbank.org/CB8QGC1JZ0

Because innovative work in uncertain and fragile conflict-affected societies is often not possible through normal World Bank funding sources, the PCF supports planning, piloting, and analysis of groundbreaking activities by funding government and partner organizations in the forefront of this work. The emphasis is on speed and flexibility without sacrificing quality.

PCF was established in 1997 to enhance the World Bank’s ability to support countries in transition from conflict to sustainable peace and economic growth. The PCF makes grants to a wide range of partners (institutions, NGOs, UN agencies, transitional authorities, governments, and other civil society institutions) to provide earlier and broader World Bank assistance to conflict-affected countries.

Grants are focused on restoring the lives and livelihood of war-affected populations, with a premium placed on innovative approaches to conflict and partnerships with donors and executing agencies; and leveraging resources through a variety of funding arrangements

GRANTS 2007: PCF —some US$10 million, with $2.8 million spent on youth-related projects; LICUS—about $28.1 million, $2.2 million spent on youth.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, DEPARTMENT OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT (CAH)

www.who.int/child_adolescent_health/en

CAH envisions a world in which children and adolescents enjoy the highest attainable standard of health and development, a world that meets their needs and respects their rights, enabling them to live to their full potential. CAH promotes the physical and mental health of adolescents, and aims to reduce by 25% HIV prevalence among young people ages 15 to 24 years by 2010. The CAH’s work is guided by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). CAH works to strengthen the tracking of adolescent health issues by developing and disseminating evidence for action to policy makers and program managers, by advocating for concerted action based on evidence, and by providing technical assistance to support a systematic approach to scaling up the provision and use of quality health services to adolescents. This work includes developing consensus among key stakeholders, developing national standards for adolescent and youth-friendly health services, and supporting efforts to achieve these standards by:

  • training health workers to deal with adolescents effectively and sensitively;
  • making health facilities welcoming to adolescents; and
  • generating adolescent demand for health services and community acceptance for their provision.

In addition, CAH supports the collection and analysis of data to monitor implementation and progress towards global goals and targets of relevance to adolescents. CAH works with other units in the World Health Organization (WHO) and in partnership with sister agencies such as UNFPA and UNICEF, as well as those outside the UN system.

Global Youth Network for Road Safety

A Global Road Safety Facility has been established in collaboration with the World Bank. The three-year project will disburse US$10 million through two separate funding streams, one for global work and one for national work. The project will initially be managed by the World Bank, with advisory input from a number of partner organizations. In 2008, WHO received a grant to support the establishment of a formal youth-led network for road safety. It is planned that this network will evolve into a fully fledged NGO. A taskforce has been created to give guidance on overall strategic direction and to help the network define its mission, goals, objectives, and activities. The youth network is currently represented on the UN Road Safety Collaboration by the vice chair of the April 2007 World Youth Assembly for Road Safety. On 25–26 March 2009, WHO hosted the first meeting of the taskforce, which is comprised of young road safety leaders from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, The Gambia, Lebanon, and the U.S. Most were nominated as their country’s official delegate to the April 2007 World Youth Assembly for Road Safety. The creation of the global network is a direct follow-up to this high profile global advocacy event. The network aims to support young road safety advocates in all countries by increasing collaboration across global, regional, and local levels. During the two-day meeting, the taskforce discussed the opportunities and challenges presented by creation of the Global Youth Network.