youth empowerment

In last week’s post I mentioned Youth Factor (YF), a U.S.-based non-profit that supports COJDECA (the Guatemalan youth empowerment project). Well, as promised, this post is about YF as another example of what youth can do to make this world a better place.

YF is a joint effort between young professionals from diverse countries who realized that their abilities and resources could be used to support grassroots youth organizations like COJDECA. Incorporated in fall of 2008, the mission of YF is to “advance youth empowerment globally by forging strategic partnerships to achieve greater outcomes for youths and communities”. As YF’s Directive Board puts it, “Youth Factor sees young people as the world’s most underestimated factor for affecting change in communities, programs, and policy. As of 2008, there were nearly 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 on the planet. That is the largest number of youths the world has ever seen. We cannot ignore the potential power of this rising generation. Young people are taking a lead in community and global change, but they need our help.”