[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 715 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 715
Calling on the United States and international donors to prioritize
investments in children and youth in development and humanitarian
assistance policies, programs, and activities.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 21, 2023
Ms. Mace submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Calling on the United States and international donors to prioritize
investments in children and youth in development and humanitarian
assistance policies, programs, and activities.
Whereas globally, 90 percent of the world's young people live in the developing
world;
Whereas children and youth bear the disproportionate burdens of poverty, which
have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting
economic crisis;
Whereas half of the world's population is under the age of 30 today, and thus
engaging youth and emerging leaders is essential to achieving the United
States most important foreign policy objectives;
Whereas the perspectives of children and youth are frequently not prioritized in
foreign assistance responses;
Whereas the world's countries with the greatest population of young people are
vulnerable to the influence of donors whose funding does not align with
American values;
Whereas research has demonstrated when countries invest in their young people,
substantial benefits can result, including reduced reliance on foreign
assistance from governments like the United States, and boost national
economic growth and global economic stability;
Whereas, according to the National Security Strategy, the United States should
not ``leave our future vulnerable to the whims of those who do not share
our vision for a world that is free, open, prosperous, and secure.'';
Whereas harnessing the potential of children and youth can create prosperous,
safe, educated, stable, and resilient families, communities, and
countries as well as reduce dependency on donor assistance;
Whereas in contrast, inaction has the potential to cost the global economy
$21,000,000,000,000 in lost lifetime earnings of today's student
generation as a result of pandemic school closures, compounding
inequality and shortfalls leading to skills mismatches, and persistently
high levels of young people not in employment, education, or training
(the youth NEET rate) that threaten gross domestic product and economic
growth;
Whereas United States foreign assistance approaches have already yielded strong
returns for young people, as well as the American taxpayers;
Whereas, since the year 2000 alone, United States foreign assistance has, for
example, contributed to cutting global maternal, infant, and child
mortality rates in half and to cutting the number of children in child
labor by one-third;
Whereas, in fiscal year 2020 alone, United States development programs reached
over 25,400,000 learners in 57 countries, according to the United States
Agency for International Development;
Whereas because interventions for children and youth are spread across programs,
agencies, and bureaus, tracking the return on United States investments
is difficult;
Whereas greater coordination within and across agencies is necessary to ensure
that young people are supported, and United States taxpayer dollars are
maximized;
Whereas for example, the McGovern-Dole school feeding program coordinates across
global food security, international education, and the water and
sanitation sectors; and
Whereas the program, which American farmers are at the heart of, has provided
5,500,000,000 school meals, supported more than 31,000,000 children and
families in 48 countries, and donated more than 1,300,000 tons of United
States agricultural commodities: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) urges the Secretary of State to coordinate with all
government agencies managing foreign assistance to develop a
strategy that directly addresses youth needs and youth
engagement as was required in the bipartisan fiscal year 2022
State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPs)
appropriations bill;
(2) calls upon the Department of State, the United States
Agency for International Development, the Millennium Challenge
Corporation, the United States Development Finance Corporation,
and all other relevant agencies who support children and youth
abroad to improve tracking and disaggregation of funding
benefiting children and youth by--
(A) compiling data that should be collected against
dedicated indicators on an annual basis, and reported
to the Office of United States Foreign Assistance
Resources; and
(B) ensuring that these indicators should include a
common understanding of what constitutes a ``child''
and a ``youth'' and develop more consistent approaches
to track disaggregated data ongoing and disaggregating
by age, sex, disability, etc.;
(3) urges all agencies working abroad to improve outcomes
for children and youth to engage directly with young people as
key stakeholders, and United States foreign assistance that
targets, engages, or otherwise reaches and impacts young
people, especially those most marginalized, should strengthen
mechanisms and platforms, such as youth advisory councils, to
facilitate the direct participation of young people on issues
affecting them most intimately;
(4) urges relevant agencies to increase inter- and intra-
agency coordination mechanisms and funding responses to
reimagine development and humanitarian assistance diplomacy,
policies, programs, and activities, in order to ensure that the
United States foreign assistance integrates multiple issues
facing young people and is flexible for local needs, such
actions would allow for more youth-led organizations to receive
funding, and for greater multisectoral interventions that
effectively account for the entirety of a young person's life
stages to support them and address their safety, education,
health, nutrition and food security, economic participation,
and civic engagement; and
(5) calls upon the leadership of relevant agencies to
review existing positions and structures in order to elevate
children and youth in foreign assistance across all agencies
implementing work that impacts them, including ways to better
operationalize solutions led in both development and
humanitarian work that allows for meeting the needs of children
and youth, including those living in crisis, conflict, and
disaster-affected settings, which would require increased
opportunities for collaboration across bureaus, divisions,
offices, and missions to address the needs of children and
youth, including identifying any authorities or funding needed
from Congress to increase the effectiveness of such efforts.
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