Six-year Collaboration Between International Youth Foundation & Nokia Demonstrates Positive Changes in Young Lives
 
Baltimore, M.D. – A 13-country study of life skills programs run by the International Youth Foundation (IYF) and Nokia demonstrates significant increases in young people’s educational readiness, engagement in their communities, and their self-confidence and focus on the future. The study’s results were released today during a symposium attended by international and U.S. program and policy leaders at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC.
 
Launched in 2000, the IYF-Nokia initiative promotes the positive development of young people through nurturing 12 key life skills, including self-confidence, communication, conflict resolution, and teamwork. The study, conducted by Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Center for Youth and Communities, was based on surveys of over 3,500 youth and set out to measure changes in young people’s life skills and related outcomes. Among the most significant findings from the Brandeis research:
  • Ninety-five percent of the young people surveyed were able to point to an increase in life skills targeted through the initiative. The most significant increases occurred in teamwork/cooperation, self-confidence, and creative thinking.
  • In the programs that emphasized youth volunteerism, 72% of youth continued their involvement in volunteer projects after completing the program.
  • In all country programs where educational outcomes were assessed, half of the youth reported that they were working harder in school, getting better grades, and thinking they could now reach a higher level of education than they believed possible before the training.
  • In all country programs studied, an average of 77% of participants said that the program had prepared them for a better life.
 
Click here to download an executive summary of the study, Measuring Outcomes in Projects Designed to Help Young People Acquire Life Skills: Lessons and Challenges by Andrew Hahn, Susan Lampery, and Tom Leavitt.