Nine Ukrainian cities are implementing the Municipal Youth Well-being Index. This tool will make it possible to see the urgent needs of young people, improve their quality of life and prevent labor migration from Ukraine.
What do Ukrainian youth think about participating in elections? How happy are young people with their income? Are they satisfied with the level of security in the city? From now on, the answers to these questions will be sought not only by journalists and social activists, but also by the municipal authorities themselves. Ukraine has launched the Municipal Youth Well-being Index (MYWI), a tool that assesses the state of affairs in seven areas of young people’s life. These include healthcare, education, participation in social and political life, economic opportunities, information and communication technologies, security and life safety.
In fact, the scale of labor migration both from specific cities and from the country as a whole depends on young people’s assessment of their well-being and prospects in Ukraine. So far, similar studies have been carried out at the national level. However, they did not give a holistic picture of how young people develop and feel in specific cities. The new tool will remedy this situation. It will help to see the "bottlenecks" of youth policy and what needs to be changed first of all. According to Oleksandr Yarema, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the Municipal Youth Well-being Index is "a chance for young people to be heard, and for local authorities to establish a dialogue with them."
How to measure the well-being of young people? The City Council has the necessary statistics on seven aspects provided by MYWI: mortality rate, adolescent fertility rates, HIV prevalence, etc. Then they support the data with online surveys of young people and expert assessments. In this way, the municipality gets a complete picture and clearly sees how well the youth policy works in the city and what can be done to increase the level of young people’s happiness.
Last year, the tool was already tested in Kremenchuk. The city’s rate was 0.69 out of 1. The level of education and information technologies was scored highest by young people. And the worst were the security in the city and life safety. The city authorities responded to the aspects with the lowest score by improving the street lighting and organizing bicycle patrols in the neighborhoods. Kremenchuk is now preparing for the recalculation of the Index. "It would be interesting for us to compare the results and see if young people have noticed the changes in the city," said Olga Usanova, Deputy Mayor.
Based on the international methodology of the Global Youth Wellbeing Index, MYWI was developed by experts from the United Nations Population Fund and the M.V. Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. They also help to implement MYWI locally. There are bonuses for young people who will take part in the survey. These are points that can be exchanged for discounts in the stores run by the business partners. "Businesses should be interested in joining the Index, as it provides an opportunity to be socially responsible and expand their customer base at the local level," said Yuliya Novak, Youth and HIV Advisor to the United Nations Population Fund.
Ukrainians received an average value of 0.583 in the Global Youth Development Index, which includes 183 countries. This index was last calculated three years ago. Having the new tool at its disposal, Ukraine will not have to wait again for expensive international research. Every Ukrainian city can measure MYWI with the support of developers. To become a member city or a business partner of MYWI, the United Nations Population Fund advises to contact them directly. Index calculations will be available in the autumn. They will show the Ukrainian city in which the happiest young people live, and what prevents the youth from feeling totally happy and where.
