Youth policy that is developed without genuine consultation with young people, and without a clear implementation plan, rarely achieves its intended impact regardless of how well-intentioned it is. This course builds practical skills for developing youth policy that is evidence-based, genuinely consultative and designed for real implementation.
47%of youth policies lack adequate implementation planning at the drafting stage
3xstronger policy outcomes when young people are genuinely consulted during development
160+policy professionals trained by Matsh in this programme
Common challenges this course addresses:
- Your youth policy is developed without genuine consultation with the young people it affects
- You struggle to translate policy intent into practical, implementable action
- Your policy documents are technically sound but disconnected from field-level realities
- You lack a framework for evaluating whether youth policy is actually achieving its intended outcomes
- You find it difficult to balance competing stakeholder priorities in policy development
This course builds practical skills for developing youth policy that is genuinely consultative, implementable and evaluated.
Who Should Attend
🏛️
Government Policy Officers
Staff drafting national or regional youth policy.
📋
NGO Policy and Advocacy Staff
Those developing organisational youth policy positions.
🌍
International Organisation Staff
Those working on multi-country youth policy frameworks.
👥
Youth Council Coordinators
Staff facilitating youth voice in policy processes.
🎓
Researchers
Those informing policy development through evidence generation.
💼
Corporate Youth Programme Staff
Those developing organisational youth engagement policy.
What You Will Leave With
Practical tools applicable immediately.
✓Evidence-based policy design, grounding policy in genuine data and research
✓Youth consultation frameworks, meaningfully involving young people in policy development
✓Implementation planning skills, translating policy intent into practical action
✓Stakeholder balancing techniques, navigating competing priorities during development
✓Policy evaluation methods, assessing whether policy achieves its intended outcomes
✓A policy development toolkit, ready to apply to your current policy process
What Participants Report
From follow-up surveys 60 days after the programme
71%incorporated stronger youth consultation into their next policy process
63%built a more detailed implementation plan than previous practice
160+policy professionals trained across all cohorts
"We drafted policy documents for years with minimal youth input, treating consultation as a formality. Building genuine consultation into our process from the start completely changed what ended up in the final policy, and its reception."
Policy Officer, national youth ministry
Programme Outline
1
Evidence-Based Policy Design
Why this module matters: Policy grounded in genuine evidence and data consistently outperforms policy based on assumption or precedent alone.
- Gathering and using evidence effectively in policy development
- Identifying reliable data sources for youth policy contexts
- Structuring policy documents around clear evidence-based rationale
2
Youth Consultation and Stakeholder Engagement
Why this module matters: Policy developed without genuine youth consultation consistently misses what actually matters to the people it affects most.
- Building meaningful youth consultation processes, not token engagement
- Balancing competing stakeholder priorities during policy development
- Managing consultation processes that genuinely influence final policy
Why this module matters: Policy without a clear implementation plan rarely achieves its intended impact, regardless of the quality of the policy itself.
- Translating policy intent into practical, resourced implementation plans
- Identifying implementation barriers during the design stage, not after
- Building accountability structures for policy implementation
4
Policy Evaluation and Personal Application
Why this module matters: Evaluating whether policy actually achieves its intended outcomes closes the loop and informs future policy development.
- Building evaluation frameworks into policy design from the outset
- Using evaluation findings to refine and improve policy over time
- Personal policy development toolkit for your specific context
Course At a Glance
| Duration | 3-5 Days |
| Format | In-person and online |
| What's Included | Workbook, practical toolkit, certificate of completion |
Common Questions
Is this course relevant for organisational policy as well as government policy?
Yes. The frameworks apply equally to government youth policy and organisational youth engagement policy in NGOs, corporations and international organisations.
Does the course address specific policy topics, such as education or employment?
The course focuses on the policy development process itself, applicable across any youth policy topic area, rather than technical content in a specific policy domain.
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Build practical skills for evidence-based, consultative and implementable youth policy.
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