Evaluating the effectiveness of youth policy implementation: problems and solutions

Abstract

This article explores the challenges of determining the effectiveness of various youth policy implementation modalities. It relies on empirical results obtained by the authors from the project "Youth in Interethnic Communications: Intolerance, Tolerance, Dialogue," which was conducted under the Fundamental and Applied Research Program "Ethnocultural Diversity of Russian Society and Strengthening All-Russian Identity". The article focuses on how reliable and comprehensive evaluations are by various youth policy actors and to the identified challenges in assessing the effectiveness of youth policy. The authors give an assessment the main reasons for the decline in the effectiveness of youth policy plans, programs, and projects at four stages using the RACE formula. The article grounds the necessity of a continuous system for assessing the effectiveness of plans, programs, projects, competitions, and other documents aimed at working with youth, based on recognized criteria and methods. The authors propose establishing a national network of youth policy research centers affiliated with leading universities. These centers would provide essential data and analysis for youth policy at all levels, addressing youth expectations and concerns across social, political, cultural, and economic spheres.