Rethinking policies for the younger generation in the era of recovery and resilience: The Italian Youth-check challenge
Index of content: 1. An introductory framework for the Youth Check. – 1.1. The European background. – 1.2. Member states’ experience. – 1.3. The Italian pilot initiatives. – 1.4. The key research questions. – 2. Flagged measures to reorient policies for the young generation. – 2.1. The call for the current intervention to address the generational divide. – 2.2. Methodological issues. – 3. Testing a taxonomy for youth policy to monitor the generational divide. – 4. National Flagging. A pilot analysis of generational and potentially generational measures for young people in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and Budget Laws in Italy. – 5. Local pilot experiences. A tool to realign youth policies: the Generational Impact Assessment (VIG) and the first experiments in Italy. – 6. Conclusion.
Abstract:
Over the past few years, a combination of unpredictability and overwhelming events has exacerbated the state of uncertainty about the future. This has weighed heavily on young people, causing an increase in anxieties, uncertainties, fears, and pessimism. Simultaneously, it has spurred the development of a new social paradigm in which traditional needs of social sustainability, in terms of employment, health and the fight against poverty, converge with emerging imperatives related to the challenging green &digital transition.
In the face of such an uncertain future, the promise of improvement and prosperity for the younger generation, as envisaged by the NextGenerationEU Programme, should be followed by decoding tools that guide the legislator in his effort to revamp the economy without placing the burden on said generation. This is also the goal of the youth policy. A policy that is at the fulcrum of the synergy between multi-sectoral policies aimed at promoting conditions favouring learning, social inclusion, active participation and the general well-being – including physical and mental health – of young people.
Against the backdrop of an ongoing demographic winter, Italy finds itself navigating in a landscape increasingly dominated by an aging population. As the nation grapples with the challenges of this demographic shift, its impact resonates in the political arena, shaping the electorate and influencing the country’s innovation dynamics. In order to foster generational equity, a fundamental principle of the Italian Constitution, it is crucial to orient and flag policies in favour of the younger generations.
Italy seems to have aligned itself – at least from an institutional point of view – with its European counterparts in the evaluation of public policies for young people. This is a fundamental step to start a process leading to the development of a Strategy able to counter the growing generational divide.