1. Introduction

Research on youth development shows that youth need basic support, a safe place to gather, good relationships with peers and adults, opportunities to learn and practice the skills needed in different roles, and constructive activities to participate in during one's spare time. Meaningful youth participation respects, recognizes and nurtures the interests and abilities of young people by providing real opportunities for them to gain important decision making and problem solving skills, develop competencies, establish meaningful relationships and bolster their self-esteem as well as demonstrate their capacity as responsible, participating members of a community.

ESCUP believes in introducing CYG as a mechanism to support genuine participation by using local resources to strengthen civic engagement and social cohesion. It is an approach to education promotion and school/community development that is led by youth to engage with children on issues of concern to them and to actively involve them in their personal development and the development of solutions to the community problems.

2. Overall Goal

CYG network gives young people a chance to work in a group with their peers to plan and implement development activities to benefit their communities. CYG promotes resilience (by building on youth strengths, including energy, enthusiasm and creativity), reduces risks, develops youths' competencies, enhances youth programs and services and promotes youths' commitment to programs.

3. Primary Objectives

• To form an organized group where youth can learn and develop social and development skills
• To provide a forum where youth and children can work together to plan and implement projects that will support children in surmounting barriers (cultural, language, gender, attitudinal, etc.) to education.

4. Facilitators

A community-based YG consists of about 15 to 20 youth, either in lower secondary school or outside of school, who commit to the program which focuses on self-development and the development of the others. Participants volunteer to spend their free time planning and working with school children from different ethnic groups. Youth groups with mixed ethnic groups, e.g Cham and Khmer working together, are encouraged as they can contribute to increased religious and ethnic tolerance and understanding.

All CYG members have to apply and be selected based on the following criteria:

• Out-of school youth or in-school youth who are respected by the community members and interest in working with school children from different ethnic groups
• Those who possess positive attitudes towards gender and other differences
• Those who have time and energy to contribute to the community development activities

A chairperson and vice-chairperson(s) will be elected.

5. Steps for building youth engagement and setting up CYG:

1. Develop youth-targeted guidelines/policy.
2. Seek out partnership with the appropriate youth organization to help co-design, plan and implement youth engagement process.
3. Conduct focus group discussions with the community and youth to finalize case study sites for the pilot program.
4. In partnership with youth, identify those who meet the criteria to be CYG members and develop the roles and responsibilities of CYG.
5. Develop desired indicators of effective youth engagement collaboratively with youth. Ensure the proper resources and personnel will be made available for the fulfillment of the indicators.
6. Support CYG to make a development plan and budget.
7. Implement capacity building activities (series of training sessions according to the needs of CYG) to ensure youth can implement their development plan smoothly and effectively.
8. Provide ongoing support and monitoring visits.

6. Responsibilities of CYG

1. Set up informal meeting with their peers (and children) to discuss issues and planning.
2. Provide education advice, social and health education (e.g. domestic violence, child trafficking, gender and diversity, role of multi-culturalism in education, HIV/AIDS prevention etc.)
3. Help the children to know that:
   • They could pick up trash from the grounds
   • They could plan a time to plant trees
   • They should look into the environmental concerns in their school and at home
4. Manage study club activities outside teaching hours.
5. Help weaker learners to learn better through tutoring or providing support to the tutors.
6. Facilitate leisure activities with the children such as sports, arts or/and research activities to explore things in their village.
7. Prepare and organize Youth Activity Day (YAD) by involving children to present what they have done and learned from their activities.
8. Engage in home-based remediation activities in conjunction with classroom teachers and parents/community.
9. Engage in household visits to follow-up drop out and absent learners in conjunction with teachers.
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10. Write monthly reports and record case studies or success stories that have resulted from their work.

7. Resources Needed

$473 per group with 20 members

• Site selection - per diem @ $15/day x 1 day x 1 person + $50 in travel costs per round trip x 1 round trip = $65
• Refreshments & materials for meeting and planning - $15 x 6 meetings = $90
• Materials for tutoring young children - $10/month x 6 months = $60
• Integrated Pest Management Materials - $50 per group
• Sport equipment (optional) - $40
• Youth group exchange visit (optional) - $120 for bus rental and meals
• Monitoring & ongoing support - $48 for travel costs for staff and village-based support team