Positive Youth Development in Senegal: A Case Study of 4-H Senegal

Abstract

African youth face great challenges and great opportunities. Positive youth development (PYD) programs have the potential to support youth in Africa to reach their full potential. Yet PYD approaches must be tailored if they are to be contextually and culturally responsive and relevant. The purpose of this paper is to provide an evidence-informed description of one such program, the 4-H Senegal PYD program. We first provide a conceptual background for the program, informed especially by the literature on global and cross-cultural PYD. We then share empirical results of a qualitative case study focused on the establishment, scale-up, and institutionalization of the 4-H Senegal program. Our case study results elucidate culturally responsive PYD program adaptations that corroborate conceptual framings of cross-cultural PYD work while also pointing the way towards promising practice recommendations. We hope this conceptual and empirical summary of the 4-H Senegal program can contribute to the field by informing practice and guiding other innovative efforts to adapt PYD models and approaches across contextual and cultural bounds.