[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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