YOUTH- TEEN LEADERSHIP IN ADOLESCENT

By: Wanjohi P. Mugambi

Worth Noting:

• Providing opportunities to assume smaller roles in meetings is a low-risk way to let youth test ideas, learn from others and see what they are good at. A small activity will also allow you to observe the youth and see them in action. Look for different skills in your members – and value the differences. Someone who has a lot of energy and is outspoken may be good at public speaking but may need help to not dominate the group.
• It may be helpful to discuss what qualities the people in your group think makes a good leader. You might brainstorm a list of qualities together, and ask the group, which are most important to them. Remember that no one has all of the traits of a leader.

Youth groups can play a vital role in supporting young people to grow and build skills to succeed in their lives. While the adult may assume primary leadership of the group at its onset, part of the adult leader’s role is to foster youth ownership of the group as it becomes more established.

Hopefully, you will have a few energetic young people with a strong commitment to the group who, with support from the adult, can serve as contact people for the group, take responsibility for the organization of group activities and events, and make sure that meetings run smoothly.  The first step in developing youth leadership is identifying potential leaders.

You will likely have some outstanding leaders in the group. These are the people who follow through on commitments, have their own ideas but are also willing and able to involve others in meaningful ways, and have enough time to set aside for planning. Some youth may not be comfortable volunteering although they have a lot to offer, so they may need encouragement and coaching to assume new roles.

Providing opportunities to assume smaller roles in meetings is a low-risk way to let youth test ideas, learn from others and see what they are good at. A small activity will also allow you to observe the youth and see them in action. Look for different skills in your members – and value the differences. Someone who has a lot of energy and is outspoken may be good at public speaking but may need help to not dominate the group.

It may be helpful to discuss what qualities the people in your group think makes a good leader. You might brainstorm a list of qualities together, and ask the group, which are most important to them. Remember that no one has all of the traits of a leader.

Anyone who is interested in serving as a leader should be able to identify their strengths as a leader as well as the skills they would like to develop. The Leadership Quiz and the Skills and Interest Survey in Tools can help you and the young people in your group assess their leadership skills.

This is where different roles and styles of the adult leader come into play. There will be times when you will nurture, educate, encourage, coach, mentor and inspire. You will need to take the time to build strong, trusting relationships with the youth.

Although a lot of energy is often put into working with teens, the payoff can be tremendous. Youth may also need concrete information about practical skills like how to run effective meetings, team building, public speaking, and facilitation skills that will empower them. Again, remember your role is to be supportive.

For example, you may work with youth on facilitation skills, but let them find their own words and style. This section includes handouts on what it takes to be a leader, running meetings, and facilitating activities. You could include these in an orientation packet for the youth leaders to help them with their new role. You might also include things to remember when resolving conflict (See Communicating Across Disagreement) and “Tapping into your Strengths (included in Getting Organized).

Ongoing opportunities for practice and feedback will lead to confidence and growt/h. As youth develop in their leadership roles, make sure to recognize their accomplishments both personally and publicly.  Three key points emerge from the literature on the life course that are particularly relevant for adolescence.

First, circumstances experienced in one phase of life can have consequences for later phases. Evidence shows that early childhood experiences can predict adolescent outcomes. For example, low birthweight predicts depression in adolescent girls. Similarly, experiences during adolescence can predict later life outcomes.

The work of Falconi et al. (2014) showed that early adolescence is a sensitive developmental period for males, with stressors between 10 and 14 years of age being related more strongly to a shorter life span than stressors experienced earlier in life or after age 15.It is also important to note that later consequences might occur in different domains of life. For example, links between different aspects of children’s development have been modeled in the Young Lives project, identifying children’s height at age 12 as associated with cognitive outcomes during adolescence.

Specifically, in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam, an increase of 1 standard deviation in early height for age predicted an increase of cognitive skills by 6%–17% during adolescence. In addition, how children report feeling about themselves and their opportunities (psychosocial well-being) can relate to their later learning outcomes.

Stunted or less healthy children may not achieve the same learning outcomes as their peers for many reasons—they might not go to school regularly, may start school later, or may learn less in school. Policy approaches to achieve success within one sector (education in this example) have a crucial interest in engaging beyond that sector (such as earlier health and nutrition) Furthermore, the impact of stressors on an individual is cumulative, making it difficult for individuals to catch up once they fall behind.

For example, in Vietnam 48% of those in the bottom quartile of math scores at age 12 had left school by age 15 (Rolleston et al., 2013), further limiting their life chances. Benefits in one age group can be derived from interventions in an earlier age grow improvement sometimes requiring multiple interventions. Longitudinal research also showed that gender differences emerge at particular points in time, interact with other forms of disadvantage, and accumulate.

Disadvantage is transmitted intergenerationally, often through the educational or health status of the mother. Young people are particularly vulnerable to the impact of childhood and chronic poverty, which is often transmitted intergenerationally