Youth-Led Development : Harnessing the Energy of Youth to Make Poverty History

David Woolcombe, founder of Peace Child, explains why youth is such a promising field for overseas development assistance.

Many young people are happy to work as volunteers and take their wages in experiential learning rather than hard cash, making Youth-Led Development (YLD) extremely cost-effective.

But even if it were more expensive, YLD is worth doing for the confidence, attitudes and skills it builds in youth.

YLD offers a path to cultural and economic prosperity. Strange things are done in the name of 'development': millions are invested in education but little in job creation, which means youth move from being unskilled unemployed to skilled unemployed.

Billions of dollars go into ''budget support'' but little of it trickles down to the young people of the world''s poorest regions.

With practical examples, David Woollcombe argues that young people should be at the centre of all development policy.