Nearly 1/3 of the world's population is young, with many living in poverty. While governments have committed to improving lives of youth, an assessment found that youth are often not meaningfully involved or prioritized in national poverty reduction strategies (PRS). Specifically, over 2/3 of PRS did not consult youth, only 43.9% identified them as a group in poverty, less than 1/3 had a youth focus in action plans, and close to 70% lacked youth budget allocations. While most PRS addressed education and employment for youth, fewer comprehensively covered their health, rights, and gender-specific issues. The report concludes there is an urgent need to better incorporate youth perspectives and priorities in future

1. The case for investing in young people As part of a National Poverty Reduction Strategy

2. Young People Today Nearly 1/3rd of the world’s population is young (ages 10-24), and almost 90% of them live in developing countries 550 million young people live on under $2 a day 14 million girls aged 15-19 give birth each year More than 2,000 youth become infected with HIV each day

3. Why Invest in Young People? Governments have made commitments to improve the lives of young people at both the international and regional levels Young people’s large share of the population in all developing and transition countries justifies providing them with their fair share of resources Young people are central to achieving the Millennium Development Goals because they are at great vulnerability to poverty, especially girls and young women There are macro-economic benefits for investing in the health and education of children and adolescents, as well as micro-economic returns from investing in certain youth programmes which could have a promising impact

4. Why Invest in Young People? There are compounding effects of the hurdles that young people, especially girls, often encounter in their transition from dependence to independence, which require special attention In the long-term, realizing the demographic dividend depends on investing in employment opportunities public health, gender equality and education for young people Young people are both disproportionately responsible for violent crime and more likely to be its victims. Investing in young people can improve national security by lowering criminal activity and the likelihood of civil strife

5. The Need for Involvement In order to address the growing concerns of the young population, they need to be a priority within the process of formation and implementation of public policy One way to do this is to make young people a part of the national poverty reduction strategy These strategies are outlined in national Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS)

7. Provide the basis for assistance from the World Bank and the IMF, as well as debt relief under the HIPC-initiative

8. Describe a country's macroeconomic, structural, and social policies and programs to promote growth

9. Summarize the country's objectives, policies, and measures for reducing poverty and ideally achieving the MDGs

11. How is youth currently addressed in these processes? The Case for Investing in Young People (2010, UNFPA) conducted an independent assessment of: The proportion of PRS that mention youth as a group consulted in the process The extent to which youth are identified as a group in poverty in PRS The proportion of PRS with a special focus on Youth in their action plan The proportion of PRS with a special focus on Youth in their budget The proportion of PRS that mention specific issues in relation to youth poverty and well-being

15. Identifying Youth in Budgets Table 4- The proportion of PRS with a special focus on Youth in their budget, number and percent (UNFPA, 2010) Close to 70% of PRS do not include specific budget allocations for youth-related priorities (Table 4) Countries need to understand which actions will give them the greatest poverty payoff in their particular circumstances at the micro-level This will allow for a bottom-up approach to resource allocation in order to better account for populations in need of services and the coverage of related interventions

16. Emphasis on Issues Related to Youth Table 5- Number and proportion of PRS that mention specific issues in relation to youth poverty and well-being (UNFPA, 2010)

18. Less than 17% cover youth issues in a cross-cutting manner

19. While 68% of PRS have HIV/AIDS initiatives targeted at young people, less than 50% have comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) strategies in place for youth