Youthdriven

Youthdriven is an adjective describing initiatives, programs, or decisions that are primarily shaped or led by young people, typically with adult supporters or facilitators. The term emphasizes youth agency, participation, and ownership in the design and implementation of activities that affect them.

Characteristics include representation of diverse youth voices, co-creation processes, and decision-making power distributed across youth participants rather than centralized in adults. Methods include youth advisory boards, co-design workshops, participatory budgeting, youth-led campaigns, internships, and mentorship structures that enable youth to lead project direction.

Contexts and sectors where youthdriven approaches are used include education reform, civic engagement, community development, technology and digital media, health, and environmental initiatives. The aim is to ensure that outcomes and services are relevant to young people’s needs and realities, while building their capacities and leadership.

Benefits and challenges: Benefits include increased relevance, better outcomes, skill development, and greater trust from communities. Challenges can involve tokenism, power imbalances, inclusivity, resource constraints, safeguarding, and ensuring long-term sustainability. Successful youthdriven efforts often require clear governance, defined accountability, and inclusive participation practices.

In practice, youthdriven efforts may require mechanisms for authentic youth leadership, ongoing mentorship, and evaluation of impact. It is related to concepts such as youth engagement, youth empowerment, participatory design, and youth participatory action research, and its exact definition may vary across contexts and organizations.