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AbstractThe purpose of this article was to reflect on the concepts of adolescence and youth, summarize models and frameworks developed to conceptualize youth participation, and assess research that has attempted to evaluate the implementation and impact of youth participation in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). We searched and critically reviewed relevant published reports and “gray literature” from the period 2000–2013. “Young people” are commonly defined as those between the ages of 10 and 24 years, but what it means to be a young person varies largely across cultures and depends on a range of socioeconomic factors. Several conceptual frameworks have been developed to better understand youth participation, and some frameworks are designed to monitor youth development programs that have youth participation as a key component. Although none of them are SRHR specific, they have the potential to be adapted and applied also for adolescents' SRHR programs. The most monitored and evaluated intervention type is peer education programs, but the effectiveness of the approach is questioned. There are few attempts to systematically evaluate youth participation, and clear indicators and better methodologies still need to be developed. More research and documentation as well as the adoption of innovative practices for involving youth in sexual and reproductive health programs are needed. Participation is a right and should not only be evaluated in terms of effectiveness and impact. Youth participation in program and policy development should still be a priority.KeywordsYouth; Participation; Sexuality; Reproductive health; Human rightsImplications and ContributionFindings from this review highlight the need to further develop indicators and methodologies for the evaluation of youth participation, both in terms of process and outcomes. Participation is a right and involving young people in a meaningful way in program and policy development should continue to be a priority.Twenty years from the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), youth participation in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) policies and programs have flourished worldwide, operating at different levels from international advocacy to local interventions. The Programme of Action, adopted after the ICPD in 1994, gave some initial steps in the recognition of young people's participation. Some of these considerations are the encouragement of girl-children's participation in societies' development; the integration and promotion of youth participation in all spheres of society, including political processes and leadership roles; the participation of young people in reproductive health programs; and the need for youth participation in the development of educational projects related to the ICPD Programme of Action [1].After ICPD+5, there was a proliferation of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programs for youth, in part because of the flow of resources from international donors after the commitment to investing 20% of the total funding in youth-related programs. Although youth participation is part of international development agendas and recognized as a human right, there is still a need for conceptual clarifications and to address a range of practical challenges for its operationalization as a regular practice in program development and management. One of the major ongoing discussions is related to how to conceptually define “youth” and “participation” [2].
In this article, we reflect on the concepts of adolescence and youth, we highlight the key international agreements related to youth participation and SRHR, and summarize models and frameworks developed to conceptualize youth participation, both from a human rights perspective and a program implementation perspective. Next, we present a critical review of the research that has attempted to evaluate the implementation and impact of youth participation in the field of SRHR, before we finally describe some approaches to move forward on the adoption of youth participation as an essential practice in policy and program development.
Methods
A systematic search was performed using the databases PubMed, Education Resources Information Center, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Family and Society Studies Worldwide, Global Health, and Sociological Abstracts. Terms searched included youth participation, youth involvement, meaningful participation, youth programs, consumer participation, social participation, peer group, peer education, leadership, community engagement, reproductive health, sexual health, sexual behavior, process evaluation, youth and community engagement, citizenship, and youth participation for social change.
Additional publications on youth participation were identified from reports and gray literature, with searches done through Google and Google Scholar, as well as through searches at Internet
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