Youth Empowerment in Health

Youth Empowerment in Health What is Youth Empowerment? Empowerment is an effort to improve the dignity of groups of people who are in poor conditions, so that they can escape from the trap of poverty and backwardness. Empowerment is an effort to build community capacity, by encouraging, motivating, raising awareness of their potential and striving to develop that potential into real action. The definition of empowerment in a narrow sense, which is related to the teaching system, among others, is stated by Merriam Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "empower" contains two meanings. The first sense is to give power of authority and the second sense means to give ability to or enable. in the first sense it is defined as giving power, transferring power, or delegating authority to another party. Meanwhile, in the second sense, it is defined as an effort to provide ability or empowerment. Youth empowerment itself is an effort to empower adolescents to become a society that is able to empower itself. Youth empowerment is a development process for adolescents to be able to improve their own situation and conditions. Youth development is carried out so that these adolescents are able to carry themselves and place themselves in the future when they become adults. Stages of Youth Empowerment 1. Planning And Policy In the early stages, planning and policy must be undertaken to develop structural and institutional changes that enable people to access various sources of livelihood to improve their standard of living. Empowerment through policy and planning is accepted in developing or changing structures and institutions for more equitable access to resources or services, and opportunities to participate in community life. 2. Social Action Social action can be interpreted as a system that allows people to participate in existing social actions. The collective involvement of the community will open up opportunities to obtain conditions of empowerment. 3. Awareness Raising and Education Certain communities are often unaware of the oppression that is happening to them. The condition of oppression is exacerbated by the absence of skills to survive economically and socially. For this problem, awareness raising and education to be applied. Jim Ife's empowerment also emphasizes that empowerment should also emphasize community assistance. Community assistants are expected to be able to increase the role and rights and knowledge of the community. Purpose of Youth Empowerment The main goal of empowerment is to strengthen the strength of the community, especially weak groups who have powerlessness, either because of internal conditions (their ow perceptions), or because of external conditions (oppressed by unfair social structures). Principles of Youth Empowerment In the empowerment process, it is important to prioritize the equal position of the community and the institution that conducts the empowerment program. Each party involved recognizes each other's strengths and weaknesses so that they can exchange knowledge, experience, and support. The program will succeed in stimulating community independence if it is participatory, meaning that the community participates in planning, implementing, supervising, and evaluating it. Of course, in the process, the facilitator must be committed to guiding and directing the community clearly. The empowerment program needs to be designed to be sustainable. In the beginnin facilitators do have a more dominant role, but gradually their role will decrease. This is because it is the community that is expected to be able to manage their own activities. Steps for Youth Empowerment\ 1. Preparation Stage There are two things that need to be done in this stage, namely the preparation of empowerment personnel by community workers and field preparation. This preparation is done so that empowerment can take place smoothly. 2. Assessment Phase The assessment stage can be conducted individually through community groups. At this stage, the officer identifies the decision problem and the resources that the client has. This is done to determine the right target for empowerment. 3. Alternative Activity Planning Stage In this stage, the officer will act as an exchange agent or agent of change. Clients are expected to think of several alternative programs and their advantages and disadvantages. Later, these alternatives will be used to determine the most effective program. 4. Program or Activity Implementation Stage In the implementation stage, adolescents must understand the purpose, objectives and goals of the program to avoid obstacles in program implementation. They should also cooperate with the program officers. 5. Evaluation Stage Evaluation is the monitoring stage of parents and empowerment program officers. The program should involve parents to build a more self-reliant community of internal monitoring and community communication.