Youth Empowerment I SS1 Civic Education Lesson Note

INTRODUCTION

Empowerment is necessarily a process of inculcating values to equip the learner to lead a life that is satisfying to the individual while being under the cherished values and ideals of society. At present, it is the most effective means that society possesses to confront the challenges of the future.

Youth empowerment is a development program aimed at creating opportunities that will encourage and develop the youths to be morally responsible, self-reliant and financially productive citizens. Youth empowerment is a process where children and young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. 

They do this by addressing their situation and then taking action to improve their access to resources and transform their consciousness through their beliefs, values, and attitudes. Youth empowerment aims to improve the quality of life. Youth empowerment is achieved through participation in youth empowerment programs.

TYPES OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT SKILLS

1. Manipulative skills: This is the type of skill that enables the youth to know how to handle or control things skillfully.
2. Life coping skill: This is a youth skill that enables the youth to deal with the realities and challenges of life.
3. Intellectual skill: It has to do with the acquisition of the ability to think and understand ideas and information.
4. Artistic skill: It is the ability to process creative qualities that enable someone to excel in producing creative works.
5. Leadership skill: This is a skill that emphasizes making thoughtful decisions about the organization’s mission and goals. It also deals with the allocation of resources to achieve these goals.
6. Vocational/Entrepreneurial skill: This is training in a skill that will enable them to earn a living and make them skilled workforce and business entrepreneurs.
7. Decision-making skill: This is the process of making choices among possible alternatives.
8. Negotiation skill: It is the method by which people settle differences without recourse to the courts.
9. Interpersonal/Human relation skills
10. Motivational/self-actualization skills
11. Communicative skill: Communication skill is the ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently. Communication is the process by which information is exchanged between individuals or a group. It is one’s ability to transfer ideas and information to others through the possible appropriate meaning. In other words, this is a process that allows people to exchange information through several methods.

Types of communication skills

1. Listening skill: Listening skill is the active process of receiving and interpreting spoken messages or produced sounds.
2. Expressive skill: This involves the use of words, sentences, gestures and writing to convey meaning and messages to others
3. Managing the overall process: This is a third-person skill that helps you determine what to work on and what sort of information to exchange.

AGENCIES OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT

1. Federal Government’s National Youth Empowerment Programme (YOU WIN)
2. Civil Society Leadership Institute
3. National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP) such as NPOWER, among others
4. Nigeria Language Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES)
5. Osun State Youth Empowerment Scheme (O- YES)
6. The African Youth Empowerment- Nigeria (AYEN)
7. National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)