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Interim results from a survey, ‘What Young People Want’, by the Global Alliance for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health and Wellbeing (PMNCH) reveal that young people want more employment opportunities. learning and education guaranteeing them future employment, in response to a world characterized by a high cost of living, disruptions due to pandemics, a climate crisis and growing conflicts.

According to a press release sent to the AIP, Saturday August 12, 2023, the main interest noted by the 713,273 young people (aged 10 to 24) who expressed themselves concerned learning, skills, education, aptitudes and employability.

Other needs and concerns mentioned include ‘safety and a supportive environment’ (21.2%) and ‘good health and optimal nutrition’ (16.3%). Teenage boys want “clean water” and “good roads”, while teenage girls add “free sanitary pads” to the list, in addition to “clean water”.

More than two-thirds (68.8%) of respondents were from the African region, followed by Southeast Asia (27.5%) and a small minority from Latin America. The survey was conducted in low- and middle-income countries as a priority, to ensure that voices less often heard are heard. In the future, the survey will extend to high-income countries.

“Ensuring the well-being of adolescents is essential to achieving a sustainable future for all, and requires cross-sectoral approaches that respond to the multidimensional nature of their development. Efforts made today to ensure the well-being of adolescents, especially women, will produce a triple dividend for adolescents today, in their future lives and for generations to come,” said PMNCH Executive Director, Helga Fogstad.

For Ghanaian student Atakorah Emmanuel, 22, young people have a voice that must be heard to enable leaders to develop contextual development and investment plans but also to meet the exact needs of youth.

The interim results of PMNCH’s “What Young People Want” survey were presented on August 10, 2023 through a public dashboard, launched on the eve of International Youth Day. The survey asks young people aged 10-24 to express, in their own words, what they most want for their own well-being, giving voice to many who have never been surveyed. , including in fragile and low-resource settings.

PMNCH plans to get responses from at least one million young people by October 2023, when the alliance will host the Global Teen Forum, a virtual gathering focused on adolescent wellbeing, as part of of the 1.8 Youth for Change campaign, launched in October 2022.

ena/cmas