Summary Meeting Notes
First Meeting of the Youth GLP Partners Group
November 2, 2006
Attendees
Mahua Mandal, Shanti Conly, Sarah Harbison, and Angela Robertson, USAID
Mercedes Torres and Bill Finger, FHI
Gael O’Sullivan, PSP-One
Charlotte Feldman-Jacobs, Population Reference Bureau
Robin Anthony Kouyaté, ACCESS/FP Project (AED)
Catharine McKaig, ACCESS/FP Project (JHPIEGO)
Sarah Gillespie and Laura Gentile Harwig, Constella Futures
Meena Cabral de Mello, WHO
Gwyn Hainsworth, Pathfinder
Erica Nybro and Monica Kothari, Measure DHS
Peggy D’Adamo and Stephen Goldstein, JHU/INFO
Ilene Speizer, MEASURE Evaluation (by telephone)
Meeting Overview
The objective of this meeting was to help establish the larger vision and purpose of the Interagency Youth Working Group (IYWG) and its members, as well as contribute to future planning of IYWG activities. One representative from each organization that had received funding through the Global Leadership Priority (GLP) Youth funding from USAID gave a summary of their GLP activities. The key contacts for each of the 11 organizations and their respective activities are organized in a document compiled by USAID and FHI (distributed earlier).
The group agreed to the vision of producing two publications under the auspices of the IYWG, Youth InfoNet and YouthLens; endorsed the development of a new IYWG website; and discussed the vision of the IYWG. The group of 11 organizations, designated as the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) agreed to meet again in February at the FHI Arlington office. Those who are not available are welcome to join by phone.
InfoNet and YouthLens
A key element of the Youth GLP Strategic Plan developed by USAID is knowledge management for the field of youth RH/HIV. GLP funds to FHI are supporting two publications to be distributed under the auspices of the IYWG: Youth InfoNet, a monthly electronic summary of new youth program resources and research articles in scientific journals, and YouthLens, a series of four-page research briefs on key topics. FHI developed both of these publications under the YouthNet Program. Bill Finger from FHI explained the two publications.
With InfoNet, the IYWG would continue to use the branding of the name of the publication developed under FHI, along with the current numbering system, so as to build on the recognition already established. InfoNet would be distributed from a new IYWG email address. The group agreed this was a good plan, and the first issue from the IYWG, InfoNet No. 28, was distributed at the end of November.
Similarly, the YouthLens publication would build on the name branding under YouthNet and continue the numbering system. The first three YouthLens from the IYWG, Nos. 19-21, are planned on the topics of integration of services, community involvement, and curriculum-based education. These will be reviewed in January and published in February 2007. The first three are based primarily on recent YouthNet research results and synthesis papers. Future YouthLens would use writers and material from various CAs, with FHI coordinating the editorial process. The group approved this general approach. Care should be taken to coordinate with such existing research summaries as the WHO evidence reviews. Anyone from the advisory group is welcome to work with FHI on YouthLens topics.
IYWG website
Finger then described the concept behind a third element of the knowledge management work, a new IYWG website. FHI will coordinate the content, working with an advisory team, and the Johns Hopkins University INFO Project will host the site and provide technical support. Peggy D’Adamo from the INFO project did a “click-through” of the draft IYWG website. Questions and comments from the ensuing discussion included:
- FHI staff will approve new submissions to the website, developing clear criteria so that all content is technically and politically sensitive.
- USAID branding guidelines must be followed throughout the site
- Publications series similar to YouthLens from other organizations will be posted to the site
- The “featured item” on the home page can be a new resource, website, or upcoming conference
- Persons from developing countries can order hard copies of documents through INFO
- All youth-related resources from PopLine will automatically be added to the site
- The YouthNet website will eventually disappear with publications archived on the FHI site
- The group should look at other youth-specific websites to note any overlap and determine what the value-added is of the IYWG site
The group was excited by site and approved the “look” and organization. The draft, fully workable site will be available for further review in early 2007, with the site going live a month or so later.
Vision/Mission
The last segment of the meeting discussed the vision and mission of the IYWG. Mahua Mandal of USAID explained the development of the Youth GLP Strategic Plan, with a vision of providing technical leadership in five areas: knowledge management, policy, research, services, and behavior change communication.
The group agreed that there were two levels of how the IYWG could contribute to the overall GLP goals:
1) To complete the activities they are funded to do through the GLP
2) to work collectively to advance the knowledge and utilization of best practices in the field
The discussions about how the group could work collectively covered a number of topics, ranging from indicators to IYWG membership to the types of meetings to hold in the future. The group agreed to a general description of the IYWG for now, so that a summary could be posted on the website. The statement, which could be updated in the future, is:
As a network of nongovernmental agencies, donors, and cooperating agencies, the IYWG seeks to provide global technical leadership to advance the reproductive health and HIV/AIDS outcomes of young people ages 10-24 in developing counties. The IYWG will contribute to this effort through:
· sharing research and programmatic results and lessons on youth reproductive health and HIV/AIDS with the reproductive health, HIV, and youth development communities
· promoting strategies that move promising research findings and best practices into programs and policies
· advocating for greater focus on youth within reproductive health and HIV programs.
Regarding membership, the group agreed to refer to the group that is currently receiving GLP fund as the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) with a goal of increasing the goal of membership to those who attend the larger meetings. The smaller TAG group would continue to meeting to plan the larger meetings.
Questions about how to monitor the GLP funding strategy were discussed, including outcomes/accountability for the activities of the different CAs as well as larger activities such as general meetings.
Other topics discussed included:
- leveraging funding: core funding vs. bilateral, other donors
- tapping the DHS data and indicators, while also assisting DHS in country-based capacity as needed
- determining whether to set priority areas as the Gender Working Group has done
- identifying gaps in the field as a focus for an IYWG subgroup
- identifying thematic areas of interest, with possibilities including married youth, younger youth, gender, new technology and communication tools
- avoiding duplication of effort
- coordinating with the Gender Working Group, which has youth as a priority area
- learning from the Gender Working Group experience
Planning and Next Steps
The group agreed we needed to continue to discuss a number of questions, such as:
- Ways to clarify the TAG role. For example, do we have proper expertise, for example for issues on married youth, younger youth, and gender?
- Should we put together a conceptual framework beyond the GLP-funded youth activities?
- How the IYWG could evolve to include non-GLP funded activities and involve other donors?
- What would be our goals to guide such additional funding that are within our reach?
We discussed ideas for a large meeting sponsored by the IYWG. Ideas included:
- to have a “tools bazaar” of all IYWG organizations’ tools/curricula/publications
- to summarize new research and program experiences on one thematic area such as peer/sex education, strategies for service delivery, or reaching married youth;
- combine a few thematic areas and leave space in the introduction for “what’s new”
- having tools at a topical meeting, possibly design as roundtable sessions
- potentially use WHO evidence reviews as a starting point
- try to organize first meeting around another large meeting in the spring, such as Global Health Council meeting
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