2009

Youth

Guidance

Project

DFID-CSO Working

Group8/7/2009

Sharing and Learning NetworkWorkshop Report: 1

Synopsis and Workshop MethodologyThe workshop was moderated by Ms. Shalini Tripathi, Country Director, Student Partnership Worldwide, Nepal (hereafter referred to as SPW) and Mr. Samrat Katwal, Project Officer, Youth Guidance Project (hereafter referred to as YGP) and Aradhana Gurung of UNFPA.

The presentation on "Establishing the Marginalized Youth Network" was made by Mr. Sanu Lal Maharjan sharing experiences of working with marginalized youth through the Association of International Non-governmental Organization (hereafter referred to as AIN).

Following the welcome remarks, participants introduced themselves and introduction to YGP and Sharing and Learning Network (hereafter referred to as SLN) was carried on. The methodology of the workshop was shared were the participants were informed that they will be divided into three groups for discussion on: how to define the marginalized youth; an outline of projects that incorporate marginalized youth; and the challenges & solutions faced whilst working with marginalized youth.

Following the group work, the respective groups made a presentation on the given topics and other participants put forward their thoughts, suggestions and comments. With brainstorming and inputs from the participants, common learning’s and guiding principles to work with the marginalized youth were developed.

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List of acronyms used

AIN : Association of International Nongovernmental organizations in Nepal

AYON- Association of Youth Organization Nepal

CSO : Community Service Organization

DFID : Department for International Development

I/NGOs : International Nongovernmental Organizations

SPW : Student Partnership Worldwide

SLN : Sharing and Learning Network

SCFG : Search for Common Ground

UK : The United Kingdom

UNFPA : United Nations Population Fund

VSO : Volunteer Service Organization

WWF : World Wildlife Fund

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Summary of the workshopThe workshop was carried out to create a platform for sharing and learning about youth participation, to reduce duplicity and encourage effective replication of youth practices. The workshop was able to identify the issues related with youth marginalization and suggested a few parameters to identify marginalized youth. Besides, the workshop could also generate some facts related to challenges and solutions to mitigate them in order to include marginalized youth on the equal footage of other citizens. Moreover, the workshop was successful in developing common learning’s and guiding principles, which would enhance the spectrum of the organizations working with the marginalized youth and produce a good case study for the Donor Youth Participation Guide.

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Participants List

Overall-coordination/facilitator:

Mr. Samrat Katwal

Rapportuer:

Ms. Anjana Luitel

The invitees from the following organizations regretted their absence in the workshop:

UNICEF Helvetas Change Fusion BASE Nepal

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S.No Name Organization Email1 Aradhana Gurung UNFPA agurung@unfpa.org2 Sanu Lal Maharjan Save The Children sanulal.maharajan@savethechildren3 Reshma Shrestha AIN reshma@ain.org.np4 Khadga B. Pariyar WWF Nepal khadga.pariyar@wwfnepal.org5 Shalini Tripathi SPW Nepal director@spwnepal.org.np

6 Prakash SharmaEC delegation to Nepal prakash.sharma@ec.eu

7 Dale Davis CEDPA/AIN dale@cedpa.org.np8 Gopal Biraji DFID gb_nepali@dfid.gov.uk9 Basanti Pariyar DFID b_pariyar@dfid.gov.uk

10Deependra Chaulagain AYON deependra@ayon.org

11 Anuja Sharma UNFPA motianuja@yahoo.com12 Piyush Shrestha UNFPA piyush_shrestha99@yahoo.com13 Sabin Singh Equal Access Nepal ssingh@equalaccess.org14 Ram Thapa MS Nepal ram@msnepal.org.np15 Samrat Katwal YGP samrat@ygprject.org

DFID-CSO Donor Youth Participation Guide

‘Sharing & Learning’ (SLN) Session 1: How do we reach out and work with Marginalized Youth?

Friday 7th August 2009, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Sanepa, Lalitpur

Time (Duration ) Activity Person Responsible

2:00pm-2:15pm Introductions & Welcome remarks

Introduction to Youth Guidance Project (YGP) and Sharing and Learning Network (SLN)

Aradhana Gurung (UNFPA)Shalini Tripathi (SPW Nepal)Samrat Katwal (YGP)

2:15pm-2:40pm Presentation: Establishing the Marginalized Youth Network

Sanulal Maharjan (AIN)

2:40pm-3:40pm Small group discussion on three aspects of youth Marginalization:One - How do we define: ‘Who are the marginalized youth’ and ‘why should we work with them’? Two – Discuss & share your organizations work that relates to marginalized youth. To include: what, where, & with whom.Three – Discuss the challenges whilst working with marginalized youth and how they were solved/ proposed solutions

Shalini Tripathi (SPW Nepal)

3:40pm-3:55pm Tea Break (during group work if necessary)

3:55 pm-4:40pm 3 Group Presentations back to whole group (15 minutes each including plenary). To present back on one area & others to feed in/add additional points.

Shalini Tripathi(SPW Nepal)

4:40 pm-4:55pm Common Learning’s & Guiding Principles on working with marginalized youth

Aradhana Gurung(UNFPA)

4:55 pm-5:00pm Wrap up: next steps Samrat Katwal(YGP)

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Table of Contents

Synopsis and Workshop Methodology....................................................................................................- 2 -

List of acronyms used..............................................................................................................................- 3 -

Summary of the workshop......................................................................................................................- 4 -

Participants List....................................................................................................................................... - 6 -

1. Workshop Introduction and Welcome Remarks....................................................................................1

1.1 General Introduction on YGP and SLN...................................................................................................1

1.2 Objective of SLN....................................................................................................................................1

2. Presentation: Establishing the Marginalized Youth Network, AIN, Mr. Sanu Lal Maharajan...............1

2.1 Objective on working with marginalized youth.....................................................................................2

2.2 Outcomes of AIN on working with youth...............................................................................................3

2.3 Challenges faced by AIN........................................................................................................................3

2.4 Discussion on Presentation....................................................................................................................3

3. Group discussion on three aspects of youth Marginalization............................................................4

3.1 Group 1: ‘Who are the marginalized youth’ and ‘why should we work with them’?............................5

3.1.1 Who are the marginalized youth?......................................................................................................5

3.1.2Why should we work with them?........................................................................................................6

3.2 Group 2: Discuss & share your organizations work that relates to marginalized youth. To include: what, where, & with whom.........................................................................................................................6

3.3 Group 3: Discuss the challenges whilst working with marginalized youth and how they were solved/ proposed solutions......................................................................................................................................7

3.3.1Challenges...........................................................................................................................................8

3.3.2 Solutions9

3.3.3 The challenges shared by other participants:.....................................................................................9

3.3.4 The solutions suggested by other participants:..................................................................................9

4.Common Guiding and Learning Principles.............................................................................................10

4.1 Common Guiding principles.................................................................................................................10

4.2 Learning Principles...............................................................................................................................10

5.Wrap Up : next steps..............................................................................................................................10

Annexes.....................................................................................................................................................12

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1. Workshop Introduction and Welcome RemarksThe workshop commenced by welcoming the participants and the need for conducting the workshop was shared by Ms. Aradhana Gurung, United Nations Population Fund, Nepal (hereafter referred to as UNFPA, Nepal) and followed by the introduction of the participants.

1.1 General Introduction on YGP and SLNMs. Shalini Tripathi, Country Director, SPW Nepal highlighted the need to involve young people in planning of programs and in policy making. Likewise, Mr. Samrat Katwal, YGP officer, briefly described the methodology of the workshop and its objectives.

1.2 Objective of SLN

The major objective of SLN is to:

• Create a common platform for sharing and learning on aspects of youth participation• Help to reduce duplicity, encourage effective replication and enhance better

understanding of the designated topic• Capture the resources, case studies and key learning’s on youth participation topics for

the DFID-CSO Youth Participation Guide for Donors, which will be made internationally available, including in Uganda & Nepal

2. Presentation: Establishing the Marginalized Youth Network, AIN, Mr. Sanu Lal MaharajanMr. Sanu Lal Maharjan, from AIN shared his experiences on working with marginalized youth. It was shared that AIN has 85 different organizations working on seven thematic issues since 1996. It was informed that while working with the peace group, the government was drafting the national youth policy, and had the chance of working with the respective draft committee. The learning of that period was that some inputs are to be taken from the marginalized group to make the policy more inclusive and democratic. This learning helped to conceptualize the organizing of workshop of marginalized youth and establishment of marginalized youth network. A National Youth Assessment is being carried out currently along with Nepal Planning Commission, Save the Children, Association of Youth Organization Nepal (hereafter referred to as AYON) and Youth Ministry is expected to bring out the current status of youth in Nepal in the coming months.

During the post conflict period, youth are being mobilized by the political parties and have been in the frontline during political confrontations. Moreover at this period of transition youth are the most vulnerable group and their migration is also an increasing trend. Though being the most vulnerable and inclined into violence, they are one of the most powerful actors of peace building. Their representation from geographically, socio-politically isolated, physically challenged and economically deprived groups is a must because if they are not included during this time of

transition, the policies that currently being drafted might not be effective enough to address the issues associated with youth.

In order to include marginalized youth at all policy making level and develop their capacity, a national network of marginalized youth has been developed. There are networks at district level of marginalized youth like muslim1 groups, ex-kamaiya2 group but their linkage with the regional networks or the presence of regional network is missing.

2.1 Objective on working with marginalized youth Draft youth policy may get sidelined or dropped

Identify additional marginalized youth

Identify capacity development needs

Unify and amplify their voice in policy decision making

2.2 Outcomes of AIN on working with youthThe outcomes that AIN has achieved by working with youth are as follows:

More connected with youth led organizations, youth wings of political parties, related NGOs/INGOs and Youth Ministry

Ministry of youth announced its interest to provide state resources Ministry committed to fund a national assembly and capacity development event Highlighted the term ‘inclusion’ during drafting of the National Youth Policy Alerted AIN in the issue of youth and inclusion Agreed, NNMY (National Network Marginalized Youth) contact office at AYON,

Kathmandu NNMY became part of Network of Youth led organization in mid-west Nepal

2.3 Challenges faced by AIN Low confidence among the marginalized youth Members have limited access to communication as they are spread across the country Low level of skills and capacity for creating an autonomous organization

2.4 Discussion on PresentationDifferent questions and issues were raised after being informed about the marginalized youth and their current status of networking. The discussion ranged from the support that AIN has been providing to the network to identification of marginalized youth. It was shared that the support AIN has been providing is for policy concentration and in the one day workshop participation and implementation were exemplary. The workshop was held in their respective community and

1 Muslims refer to the people having faith on Islam (one of the religions followed worldwide)2 Kamaiya are the traditional system of bonded labour in Nepal

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the youth themselves identified their key issues which were brought into light in Kathmandu. Then the network has been supported and linked with other networks and AIN still envisions supporting them in future.

During the workshop partner organizations at grass root level were contacted and were sent to the national level workshop which helped them realize that the marginalized youth need to collectively work on their issues. They themselves found out the ways and planned simultaneously to address their issues. But on the other hand there is the cost of getting involved to such programs. It was informed that the network members are meeting late August, 2009 with the Joint Secretary of Youth Ministry to plan on how to engage them on step by step process and identify their issue and work with the support of communities to strengthen their own society.

Furthermore, it was discussed that how youth were differentiated from marginalized to that of privileged group. During the formation of youth policy drafting committee, the consultations were mainly done with the youth affiliated with political parties, youth organizations. As these youth have forums to express themselves or raise their voice but those youth who did not have access to forums or affiliations to any platform were selected with the help of the partner organizations at a grass root level.

The network currently has 38 members representing hill, mountain and terai. At the same time during drafting of constitution, AIN worked closely with the youth but it is difficult to ensure whether marginalized youth were involved in this process or not. Likewise it was shared that creating a network of marginalized youth is not an issue, but people might get apprehensive as it might create more dividing lines as youth stated as marginalized and privileged might lead into conflict themselves. The committee of youth ministry is not lead by the young people and 95% are representative of political wings, so powerful and effective tool is required to lobby with the Ministry to create space for youth other than political youth wings.

It was shared that after the change in government, the stand on Youth Policy of the Youth Minister is still unknown. As there is a trend that when the Minster is changed, the cabinet sends the policy to Minister for revision and when it has been revised it need to be passed by the drafting committee and the Joint Secretary. So still the stand of the government on Youth Policy is unknown.

It was informed that UNFPA is currently translating the documents related to youth developed by United Nations (hereafter referred to as UN) and once the document has been developed, orientation will be given to AYON and Youth Ministry to disseminate them to grass root level and how to use the document. The documents will be made available to the organizations working for and with youth later.

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3. Group discussion on three aspects of youth Marginalization

Group discussion and presentation on three aspects of youth Marginalization:The participants were divided into three groups to discuss the following questions related to youth marginalization. After the discussion each group was asked to present on one questions and to provide their inputs on the other questions.

3.1 Group 1: ‘Who are the marginalized youth’ and ‘why should we work with them’? The presentation was made by Mr. Khadga Pariyar, WWF Nepal came up with the following points:

Geographic Isolation Economic deprivation Socio-cultural and political exclusion

3.1.1 Who are the marginalized youth?In addition to the above mentioned areas of exclusion, the need to work with youth groups were highlighted. As poverty, lack of education, gender discrimination, religion- ethnic minority and internal displacement has lead to further marginalization.

Discussion was made that there is a need of broad description regarding the definition of marginalized youth and the measures to identify them. So it was suggested that marginalized youth could be defined as those who lack participation, representation and access to information. An example was cited in the discussion that only geographical isolation cannot be taken as an indicator to marginalization as during the conflict people, the poor people from Rolpa3 district have migrated first and have settled down in city areas. And in case of geographical isolation Kathmandu or Nepalgunj or many other cities are not the part of geographic isolation. It was suggested that marginalization should have some parameters to indicate the level of marginalization rather than focusing on geographical isolation.

Aiming to identify marginalized youth, some of the parameters shared were: Young people with no primary education and skill Educated young people who do not earn Rs.100 in rural setting and Rs. 150 in urban setting No Access to communication and Information

3 Rolpa is one of the remote districts of Nepal

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3.1.2 Why should we work with them?

To uplift and enhance their capacities to help them get access to opportunities, it is essential to work with them. Likewise, youth is to be targeted as they are readily influenced into armed force. Moreover Internally Displaced People (hereafter referred to as IDPs4) are more likely to be in the forefront of the war as they do not have access to information and no platform to raise their voice.

3.2 Group 2: Discuss & share your organizations work that relates to marginalized youth. To include: what, where, & with whom

The presentation was made by Mr. Deependra Chaulagain, AYON, whose group came up with the following table:

Organization working with or on marginalized youth Organization What Where Whom 

Mercy Corps Peace Building Western TeraiYouth in general

SCFG Peace Building Mid-western Hill/ Eastern TeraiNot specified but youth

SPWVolunteering Program Hills/Terai Youth

Save the Children     Youth

VSOVolunteering Exchange   Youth

HelvetasEmployment Generation   Youth

AYONCapacity Building/Participation

Five marginalized youth organization(3% of youth organization) Youth (16-35)

 Note:SCFG : Search For Common Ground

4 IDPs : refers to people displaced due to armed conflict or due to natural disaster within the nation's boundary in search for better livelihood options but basically for security reasons

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SPW : Student Partnership WorldwideVSO : Volunteer Service OrganizationAYON : Association of Youth Organization Nepal

Table 1: Organization working with or on marginalized youth

Most of the organizations has identified youth issues as the cross cutting issue. The participants from other organization also highlighted their work with youth.

SPW has been working on peer education, providing internship opportunities, scholarships, supporting them to develop leadership skills, for civic participation, networking with other organizations, working with marginalized organization, marking the events related to young people and are lobbying for policy change and network establishment.

UNFPA has been working for young people focusing on Muslim girls and on Dalit5 boys.

MS Nepal has been empowering youth through community radio, tuition programs and is working in partnership with Alliance for Peace for youth involvement in national building.

Likewise, Equal Access has been working on youth issues through different radio programs.

It was shared that only few organizations were working on youth two years back but now the trend has shifted and more organizations are focusing on youth. But their inclination towards working on youth is missing in their strategies and youth should be lobbying for putting up youth issues on their strategy paper. For lobbying SLN can be one of the effective medium for lobbying with the organizations.

3.3 Group 3: Discuss the challenges whilst working with marginalized youth and how they were solved/ proposed solutions. The presentation was made by Mr. Sabin Singh, Equal Access, who came with the following challenges and proposed solutions:

3.3.1 Challenges Language as a barrier

In Nepal there are many languages and as people communicate mostly in one language, youth from different region speak different language. In the absence of proper language orientation, youth from remote district and places do not have a platform to express themselves at national level.

5 In Hindu Caste System, people are basically divided into four caste namely: Dalit regarded as low caste and untouchable people thus regarded as the most marginalized people

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No leisure timeYouth in Nepal do not have leisure time, as they are working for sustaining their lives. Being an agrarian economy they are either busy with farming or are busy with their household chores. In the absence of leisure time they are not encouraged to participate in different programs as survival is their basic need.

No co-ordination from Youth MinistryYouth Ministry lacks co-ordination while including youth in programs and planning. As Youth Ministry has been functioning with those affiliated to political parties or with those who have platform to express themselves, they do not show interest on coordinating with the marginalized youth as it involves more cost and time.

Lack of leadership in Youth Ministry (& mainstreaming with other sectors)Youth Ministry lacks leadership in terms of motivating youth and moreover Youth Ministry is not led by youth nor does it have youth representation. Due to this young people find it difficult to connect themselves with Ministry and its programs.

No clarification on the definition of organizations (I/NGOS)Organizations working and youth organizations are not clear with the definition about young people. As some organization define them between certain age bracket and some through other indicators, so it is difficult to relate who are youth and what defines them as youth.

Lack of Youth friendly programsThere are programs being organized for youth, but the problem is that there are not many youth friendly programs. And in the programs designed for youth as well, youth participation is quite low as youth ranges from 15 to 40 years of age in Nepal. So in the absence of youth friendly programs young people are even marginalized further.

Lack of proper use of budget and resource person by the Youth Ministry

The government allocates budget for youth but the budget is not spent as expected and has not been able to uplift the situation of the youth. Moreover the resource people of Youth Ministry to handle youth issues are also not fully equipped with all issues relating to youth.

3.3.2 SolutionsThe proposed solutions put forwarded to mitigate the above mentioned challenges were as follows:

Participation and representation Access to information Proper co-ordination with local level organizations Capacity Building of the Youth sector

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Effective and efficient leadership at Youth Ministry Self awareness among the youth (Willing to participate)

3.3.3 The challenges shared by other participants:Budget constraint

It was shared that organization with 20% of the budget head cannot reach marginalized youth. So reaching out to the marginalized youth has been difficult under budget constraint.

Changing the policies within the organization to involve young peopleOrganizations working with the youth have components of youth but are reluctant to involve youth at organization and at planning organizational goals and objectives. So in such case it has been a challenge to change policies within the organization.

3.3.4 The solutions suggested by other participants:Communication :At community, regional and national level to ensure youth participation

Decentralization: Should be implemented at all levels to be inclusive and on power sharing within the child and youth clubs

Using Youth to Youth model : Use role model from marginalized youth, mentoring or coaching them, providing internship programs

4 .Common Guiding and Learning Principles

4.1 Common Guiding principles Develop parameters based on economic status, level of education, geographic isolation, social barriers, access to infrastructure, participation, and representation to identify marginalized youth

Ensure cultural, economic, political empowerment through right based approach to participation, access to information and education

Holistic support from the organizations functioning at different areas in the community should be ensured for the marganilized youth

Mapping of organizations working on marginalized youth

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4.2 Learning Principles

During this period of post conflict transition period youth energy can be diverted towards positive energy for nation's development rather than letting them be mobilized by different political parties

Marginalized youth on equal footage with that of other citizens

Networking, and collaborative efforts are not implemented practically as they are being project oriented and lack focus, co-ordination, strategy and methodology to reach marginalized youth

Incentive based approach to empowerment sometimes might lead to unexpected results

Need to work with them as they comprise of 33% population of the total population of Nepal

Proper documentation of process techniques, approach and collaboration should be done to actually reach out the marginalized group

New approach with new mechanism are to be developed to reach out poor as they are not participating

Youth speak a different language and to integrate them, the communities are to be networked among themselves and young people from different background can work with each other thus will enhance social harmony

5 .Wrap Up: next stepsMr. Samrat Katwal informed that the report will be shared with all the participants. And the participants can provide their comments, suggestions. The next SLN will be held on 20 th August, 2009, Thursday which will be hosted by DFID Nepal from 2.00pm to 5.00pm on the topic "What lessons do we have to date in Nepal about how to engage youth in improving employment policy and/or practice? {Growth, livelihoods/skills} "

He also thanked UNFPA Nepal office for providing the space for workshop and AIN for presenting their work on marginalized youth to all the participants for their valuable inputs to SLN

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Annexes

Annex 1: Photographs of the Workshop

Presentation by Mr. Sanu Lal Maharajan

on Establishing the Marginalized Youth Network

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Group 1: Discussing on ‘Who are the marginalized youth’ and ‘why should we work with them’?

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Group 2: Discussing and sharing their your organizations work that relates to marginalized youth. To include: what, where, & with whom

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Group 3: Discussing the challenges whilst working with marginalized youth and how they were solved/ proposed solutions

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Mr. Khadga Pariyar presenting the outcome of the discussion (Group 1)

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Mr. Deependra Chaulagain presenting the outcome of the discussion (Group 2)

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Mr. Sabin Singh presenting the outcome of the discussion (Group 3)

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