The concept of youth empowerment has been around for many years and is, therefore, a commonly practiced concept. There are many available organizations that are established just with the sole purpose of empowering and impacting the lives of youths around the globe positively. Empowering is the realization of certain power and ability and it also includes the attainment of confidence and skills. Youth empowerment also includes the art of mending and strengthening relationships and creating a sense of belonging within the communities that these youths hail from. It is also important to consider mending certain barriers that may hinder the process of empowerment which include poverty, mental health, drug and substance abuse, and also any form of violence.
In order to fully understand the concept of youth empowerment, one must be able to tame their mind and also believe in people, enjoy being around them and also believe that people have the ability to overcome any obstacles and problems they might be facing in their personal lives. You should also believe that when people choose to work together and create a sense of community, it always creates an even greater force than if each individual was to do it alone. However, achieving this sense of community development is usually not an easy task for community workers. This is because people are naturally inclined to reject any new members to join their different groups and therefore instructing these groups to allow new membership is usually not an easy task.
To overcome all these barriers that hinder the effective development of communities and hinder individuals from gaining confidence and new skills as a road map to achieving empowerment, it is important to incorporate the use of certain strategies such as education. Education has always been a powerful tool and the single most influencer in the lives of many individuals. Therefore, it is important to teach people how to become useful members of society and also how important it is to participate in community development activities. Also, teaching people leads to the development of professionals who carry out community development in other marginalized and less advantaged communities.
In community development, it is important to also recognize there are a number of conflicts that arise. For example, in community development the idea of diversity is recognized, the power that lies with people being different is recognized and appreciated. This, therefore, creates the need to handle people individually and recognize that all of them cannot respond to situations in the same manner. This situation is different from a formal setting where people are assessed using uniform measurements. It is also important to be a good listener. Different young people come to these centers to seek insights and advice regarding their personal life experiences and it is therefore important to listen to them and not condemn them. Incorporating low-income youth activities and different experiences is also a plus. This makes young people more active. They interact better where there is a lot of laughter and lots of talking. Giving them information is important but molding that information to become insights and finally relaying those insights in a fun and cozy environment enables these young people to comprehend and absorb it easily.