Youth Development: a Social Concern

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Youth Development: A Social Concern Introduction The role of youth is of most importance in today’s time. It has underplayed itself in field of politics. It should become aspiring entrepreneur rather than mere workers. It can play a vital role in elimination of terrorism. Young participation is important because youth are the country’s power. Youth recognize problems and can solve them. Youth are strong forces in social movements. They educate children about their rights. They help other young people attain a higher level of Intellectual ability and to become qualified adults. Youth development is the ongoing growth process in which all youth are engaged in attempting to: “(1) Meet their basic personal and social needs to be safe, feel cared for, be valued, be useful, and be spiritually grounded, and (2) To build skills and competencies that allows them to function and contribute in their daily lives." [Karen Pittman, Co-Founder, President and CEO – The Forum For Youth Investment, USA]. This definition accurately describes youth development as a process that all young people go through on the way to adulthood. As the definition implies, it is a process or journey that automatically involves all of the people around a youth—family and community. A young person will not be able to build essential skills and competencies and be able to feel safe, cared for, valued, useful, and spiritually grounded unless their family and community provide them with the supports and opportunities they need along the way. Thus, youth development is also a process in which family and community must actively participate. Youth development, then, is a combination of all of the people, places, supports, opportunities and services that most of us inherently understand that young people need to be happy, healthy and successful. Youth development currently exists in a variety of
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