Project Overview

The Cross-Sectoral Youth (CSY) Project is a multi-country project that fosters collaboration across sectors (health, democracy & governance, education, environment, and economic growth) in order to meet the holistic needs of youth in developing countries. As a USAID intra-agency initiative, the project is designed to incorporate youth as a strategic priority within the U.S. Government foreign assistance framework while advancing USAID objectives. CSY provides a platform for various organizations (USAID/Washington, USAID country Mission teams from all development sectors and regions, and local organizations) to participate in youth program assessment, design, implementation and joint funding, and the analysis and dissemination of lessons learned.

Objectives

• Assist select USAID country Missions in identifying opportunities for innovative, synergistic, cross-sectoral, youth-oriented programs;
• Provide technical assistance to USAID country Missions and local implementing partners in the design, management, and assessment of specific activities that can promote such youth programming; and
• Advance future efforts to design and implement cross-sectoral youth programming through the documentation of successes and lessons learned.

The CSY Project involves three demonstration sites. In collaboration with USAID country Missions and local implementing partner organizations, CSY has been carrying out two 12-month cross-sectoral projects and has conducted a cross-sectoral youth assessment. These activities seek to explore the cross-sectoral aspect of youth programming and build upon existing efforts.

Activities

CSY India: Helping Expand Youth-Oriented Livelihood Options
In January 2007, the CSY Project launched its first demonstration site in India. Here, the project is working with a cross-sectoral team from USAID/India and a lead local partner organization to enhance the impacts of an existing cross-cutting youth and family livelihood development project in Agra. This Cross-Cutting Agra Project (CAP) is designed around a heritage walk throughout five slum communities behind the famed Taj Mahal. CAP aims to strengthen the livelihoods of selected communities through youth-oriented livelihood options based on the city’s tourism economy. CAP uses participatory processes and engages with a variety of stakeholders (including community, civil society, local government, and private sector). Designed in consultation with the four technical offices of the USAID/India Mission—health, environment, social development, and economic growth—the project was conceptualized as a small scale/local level intervention with the potential to serve as a model for city-wide replication.

CSY Morocco: Informing Future Youth Programming Design and Implementation
In June 2007, USAID/Morocco expressed interest in further exploring a project concept. It called upon the CSY Project to conduct a cross-sectoral youth assessment that tested the concept of support to Dar Chebabs (youth centers), and gave recommendations to inform future youth programming design and implementation. The assessment team used a youth-focused approach to uncover the perceptions of key actors, collected a variety of data (through stakeholder meetings, roundtables, interviews, and 18 youth focus groups), and produced a report that analyzed the perceptions of various stakeholders—including youth, government officials, and community members—about the concept of Dar Chebabs and included a set of recommendations to USAID/Morocco for cross-sectoral youth programming.

CSY Democratic Republic of the Congo: Building upon Current Initiatives
In 2008, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was selected as the third CSY country site to build upon ROADS, an existing project implemented by Family Health International (FHI) and supported by the USAID/East Africa Bureau in eight countries of the region. In partnership with Family Health International and USAID/East Africa, CSY DR Congo is building upon current successful health activities under the ROADS project. It works to incorporate an economically promising, youth-appropriate micro-enterprise and entrepreneurship component, while engaging civil society and the private sector. CSY DR Congo is designed to take place in three sites within Bukavu over a 12-month period.

Partners

CSY promotes partnerships at various levels and across sectors. EDC and implementing partners strive to engage diverse types of agencies including: bilateral donors, private sector enterprises, local NGOs, and local government units.

Coordinating Organization
Education Development Center

Local Implementing Partners
In India, CURE (Center for Urban and Regional Excellence)
In DR Congo, FHI (Family Health International)
In Morocco, CSY works with individual experts identified for assessment activities.

Cross-Sectoral Resources

Guide to Cross-Sectoral Youth Assessments

DR Congo

Cross-Sectoral Youth Project: Rapid Assessment for Project Design, Bukavu, DRC

Cross-Sectoral Youth Project: Youth Enterprise Development (YED) Project: Assessing Youth Entrepreneurship Skills: Initial Findings (Appendix 17)

Cross-Sectoral Youth Project: Youth Enterprise Development (YED) Project: Assessing Youth Entrepreneurship Skills: Final Findings (Appendix 18)

Agra, India

Cross Sectoral Youth Project: An Assessment of Young People's Developmental Assets (Appendix 10)

Cross-Sectoral Youth Project: Measuring Youth Development (Appendix 21)