Youth engagement and empowerment for inclusive and sustainable development

Youth plays a pivotal role in any nation's progress and development. Therefore it is imperative for all national organizations to work for youth engagement and empower young people to enhance their contribution to national development. Any organization can achieve this goal of youth engagement and empowerment in partnership with young people, the government, and other vital key stakeholders. This ambition should be embodied in a rights-based approach, that should focus on the realities faced by young people in their respective communities and their consideration as a force for peace, democracy, equality, and good governance. The youth should be taken as a catalyst for international consensus building and an essential resource for poverty eradication and the sustainable development of any nation.  

While working on youth or let's say with the youth we should understand the social context in which we desire to work for change. Young people living in any part of the world or in any society have certain roles and responsibilities. There is no doubt in the fact that these particular responsibilities and roles differ according to each society or social context. There are certain particular aspects that are common across most societies. This idea gives rise to certain questions like from a sociological perspective how can we see young people in various societies. There is a range of concepts or definitions of "youth, "adolescence" and "family". Furthermore, there are numerous problems and issues faced by young people living in different societies or communities. It is imperative to properly understand the social conditions of young people living in different societies.  Researchers and subject experts in the area have opined regarding youth in different social contexts along with general theories regarding society.

Youth development workers across the world try to help the youth in order to improve young people's conditions. In doing so they will ultimately be helping in the reformation and development of the society in which they live. Institutions and youth development workers should adopt some ways of seeing young people in their society. As the young is considered as an agent of change so, in order to work with young people for the development of any nation, there is always a lurking need and commonsense understanding of this vital group. A critical part of this understanding would be how to make them fit into their society, community, and family.

There are certain challenges that all of us have to come across such as the way young people are perceived and the definition of the term "youth". This term is not defined in a similar manner in all societies and cultures. "Society" and  "Culture" need to be examined before understanding the term "youth". According to social theorists, there are three ways in which societies form and people's behavior. These three approaches (functionalism, conflict theory, and interactionist approach) could prove to help in our understanding of young people and how to work with them for societal development.   

It is an acknowledged fact that Youth do not exist in isolation, They are very much part of their respective society and culture. In reality, the youth of any nation is defined and explained by the culture and society. Young people can take initiative, as you must have heard many people in their talks that they would have killed themselves two hundred times at a young age. Not simply out of this fact that you could do what others can not do, it is at times stretching yourself beyond the limits. Youth without any sense of adventure is not youth. Now the question arises what is that adventure? Many youngsters mindlessly get into adventurous sports thus losing their life. As young people, you can have ventures/adventures in your life. That is absolutely up to you as young people living in any society. As somebody has very rightly said that adventure means you are unaware of the fact that where your next foot is going to be. That means there is danger. There is no adventure when everything is safe and calm, it is a venture. In adventure, you step into something that you do not know.

Youth should be involved in such a way that they should feel the adventure but there should be a plan at the back to engage them in responsible and challenging actions to create positive change. This calls for young people's involvement in planning and decision-making so that they could learn the best that is thought and known in this world.