Assets and Agency

Assets

Youth have the necessary resources, skills, and competencies to achieve desired outcomes.

Agency

Youth perceive and have the ability to employ their assets and aspirations to make or influence their own decisions about their lives and set their own goals, as well as to act upon those decisions in order to achieve desired outcomes unconstrained by traditional gender and social norms.

Youth need technical and academic skills for economic opportunities, but they also need life skills and soft skills that help them navigate challenges and new situations. The tool reflects ongoing evidence-based research on program design and staff practices that are most effective in helping youth develop critical soft or life skills.

To learn more about the growing research on soft skills, read: Guiding principles on building soft skills among adolescents and young adults and Key Soft Skills for Cross-Sectoral Youth Outcomes