Youth and Development: Learning the Lessons of the World Development Report 2007

The aims of this public meeting were to explore whether the critical issue of youth is high on both the government and donor agenda and how it is being pursued as both a global and local issue. Also to explore how youth concerns are being supported by policy and how the wider development community, including researchers, NGOs and young people themselves, can more effectively address the problems raised by the report.

The World Bank’s World Development Report 2007 was published in September. Entitled ‘Development and the Next Generation,’ it focuses for the first time on youth and development. The report states:

‘With 1.3 billion young people now living in the developing world - the largest-ever youth group in history - there has never been a better time to invest in youth….’

‘Developing countries which invest in better education, healthcare, and job training for their record numbers of young people between the ages of 12 and 24 years of age, could produce surging economic growth and sharply reduced poverty…’

‘Most developing countries have a short window of opportunity to get this right before their record numbers of youth become middle-aged, and they lose their demographic dividend…’

‘With youth unemployment running at up to twice the adult rate, failure to seize this opportunity to train them more effectively for the workplace, and to be active citizens, could lead to widespread disillusionment and social tensions.’