Analysis Of Youth Policy Formulation And Implementation With A Special Emphasis On Youth Participation A Multiple Case Analysis

The FDRE National Youth Policy emphasized the role of youth in determining theirrnown destiny through their active participation in the formulation and implementationrnof policies and strategies that affect them. Accordingly, the purpose of the study wasrnto analyze youth policy formulation and implementation focusing on the participationrnof the youth and explore the challenges in the implementation of strategies for youthrnparticipation in the policy process. A policy analysis framework was used to analyzernthe content, the role of actors, and the context of the development of the policy andrnpolicy packages and demonstrate the dynamics among them. In addition, youth accessrnand influence on the policy process was analyzed to gauge the progress made inrnrealizing the democratic rights of the youth and their meaningful participation. Thernmethodology used is a multiple case study approach at macro, meso and micro levelsrnto analyze the formulation and implementation processes at various levels ofrnadministration. A qualitative approach was used to analyze the research questions inrnthe study. In-depth interviews with key informants, document review and observationrnmethods of data collection were used and in addition served as a way to triangulaternthe data. A purposive sampling method was used to select and undertake in-depthrninterviews with a total of 15 Key Informants from both the government i.e the YouthrnDepartment at the Ministry, Youth Bureau at Addis Ababa City Government and thernyouth secretariats in the selected Sub-city and woreda, and the Youth actorsrncomprising of the Ethiopian Youth Federation, Addis Ababa Youth Federation andrnAddis Ababa Youth Association. The Key Informants were selected for their specialrnknowledge and insights of the policy formulation and implementation processes andrndifferent interview guides were used for each organization, group and variousrnhierarchical levels to obtain the data. Findings indicate that most of the progressivernstrategies for ensuring the meaningful participation of the youth through independentrnparticipation of the youth in the policy process, implementing structures andrnmechanisms forwarded in the National Youth Policy have not been reflected in thernsubsequent policy packages and there were insignificant changes among the variousrnpolicy packages. Findings also indicated as one of the challenges in the policyrnprocess, the state’s influence on the policy environment which limited thernparticipation of the youth to government affiliated national and regional youthrnfederations and associations which are under the shadow of the government as theyrnrely on it for their financial needs which in turn has affected their bargaining power.rnThe government’s youth departments at the City government level also face similarrnissues of capacity which impeded the monitoring and coordination of youth issues andrnin addition face autonomy issues due to the top-down approach of the federalrngovernment. In conclusion, the government has been lagging in ensuring thernparticipation of the youth through the provision of access to the policy process andrnenhancing the quality of their participation. Strong legal frameworks to ensure thernautonomy of the youth organizations and creative ways to reach and involve youthrnare necessary to safeguard the participation of the youth.

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