Future we want
Led by
UNICEF Italy and UNICEF Italy youth advocates
Scope
National (Italy)
Stakeholders targeted
- Parliament
- Government policy-maker
Youth rights in focus
- Right to participate in public affairs
- Right to health, including mental health
- Right to education
Main objectives
- Introduce a youth participation dimension into the NextGenerationEU Recovery Plan, a European Union initiative to support recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic
- Include civic education in school curricula
- Support the introduction of mental health professionals in schools
Key outcomes
- Creation of a Youth Advisory Board for the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs
Success factors
- Overall institutional environment
- Main objectives shared broadly by many civil society actors
- Political figures in the Ministry of Youth were close to UNICEF
- Broad media coverage
Challenges
- The initiative was overly ambitious at the beginning, meaning that the goals had to be re-envisaged
- Hard to ensure political momentum
Lessons learned
- Have clear, limited advocacy objectives that are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound
- Use media effectively to leverage political momentum
- Ensure a broad-based coalition
- Have an implementing committee
