Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2023-531/ Evaluation and monitoring of the activities of youth organisations in the Nordics - what could be learned among the Nordic countries? -project has aimed to identify the best practices in each Nordic country for the evaluation and quality monitoring of youth organisations. The project has produced information on the best practices and put together a situational picture on the evaluation of the impacts of youth organisation activities in different Nordic countries. The best practices will provide good suggestions for youth organisations on how to improve the quality of their activities, while a broader situational picture will create added value especially for public administration.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2023-535/ In the spring of 2023, the Finnish National Youth Council Allianssi, Sivis Study Centre and the Youth Work Centre of Expertise Kentauri jointly implemented impact coaching for organisational operators. The coaching was carried out as part of the “Evaluation and monitoring of the activities of youth organisations in the Nordics - what could be learned among the Nordic countries?” project, which has been implemented in 2021–2023 with funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers. In this manual, you will find the starting points and objectives of the impact coaching. The manual describes the process as a whole, and it allows the impact coaching to be carried out, for example, by an umbrella organisation for member organisations. We hope that the model would make it easier to increase expertise related to impacting and its assessment in the Finnish and Nordic youth organisation sector.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/politiknord2023-724/ In early 2016 the Nordic Council of Ministers established a new cross-sectoral strategy for children and young people. This strategy has now been extended to 2024, with minor updates. The strategy lays down the vision for the Nordic Council of Ministers’ efforts relating to children and young people: that the Nordic Region must be the best place in the world for children and young people.The objective of efforts relating to children and young people in the Nordic Region is to establish good living conditions and improve their opportunity for influence. The right to good living conditions and influence must be promoted equally for all children and young people regardless of their gender, ethnic, cultural or socioeconomic background, age, place of origin, sexual orientation, or disability.

This report examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Nordic labour markets and the associated policy responses undertaken in the areas of unemployment benefits, job retention schemes, active labour market policies and skill development policies. The report discusses the details of these policy measures across Nordic countries and draws out the main lessons learned from their response to the crisis.

The Scandinavian and Nordic countries have some of the highest participation rates in sport and physical activity in the world and are therefore important case studies across a range of subjects, from sport policy to physical activity and health. This is the first book to bring together studies of all those countries in one volume, examining sport, physical activity and exercise, and exploring the factors behind such high levels of participation. Rich in empirical data, the book examines trends in sports participation, organisation and policy in each of the constituent countries, highlighting common themes and outcomes. This is a valuable resource for students, researchers and academics working in the fields of sport, physical education, leisure, sport policy, sport development, the sociology of sport, and physical activity and health.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2024-521/ This report reviews the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Gender Action Plan (UNFCCC GAP) in the Nordic countries. The UNFCCC GAP aims at advancing knowledge and understanding of gender responsive climate action, and includes activities for gender mainstreaming the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The report finds that the Nordic region demonstrates commitment to integrating gender equality perspectives into climate policies, and summarises best case examples on local and national level. It also suggests that by prioritising capacity building of mainstreaming in climate policies, utilising available sex-disaggregated data for gender analysis, and by enhancing coherence in relevant policy frameworks, the Nordic countries can improve their implementation of the UNFCCC GAP and further pave the way for a just transition to a green economy.

Given the labor market challenges that countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are facing (notably high unemployment, prevalence of skills mismatches, low labor market mobility, and lack of formal employment networks), employment services could be a relevant policy instrument to assist unemployed individuals to find jobs. Despite high and increasing unemployment rates, employers in the region are facing difficulties to find workers whose competences and skills fit their employment needs. The study first surveys international best practices for the delivery of employment services and then reviews the provision of these services in a selected group of countries in the MENA region, with a focus on public provision through existing public employment agencies. Findings indicate public agencies in the region face many challenges for the effective delivery of employment programs, namely poor administrative capacity,system fragmentation, lack of governance and accountability, regulation bottlenecks, and flaws in program design. In order to help unemployed workers to obtain the competences required by available jobs, this study proposes a reform agenda based on the development of strong partnerships between public agencies, public providers, and employers for the design and implementation of flexible employment programs that respond to real employment needs. These partnershipss will need to be developed with strong governance mechanisms that make beneficiaries, private providers, and firms accountable for making sure that investments in employment programs lead to employment insertion. The book is directed to policy makers, practitioners, economists, and anyone interested in international best practices to promote a more effective delivery of employment services.

The book contains 17 chapters with material from 13 African countries, from Egypt to Swaziland and from Senegal to Kenya. Most of the authors are young African academics. The focus of the volume is the multitude of voluntary associations that has emerged in African cities in recent years. In many cases, they are a response to mounting poverty, failing infrastructure and services, and more generally, weak or abdicating urban governments. Some associations are new, in other cases, existing organizations are taking on new tasks. Associations may be neighbourhood-based, others may be city-wide and based on professional groupings or a shared ideology or religion. Still others have an ethnic base. Some of these organizations are engaged in both day-to-day matters of urban management and more long-term urban development. Urban associations challenge the monopoly of local and central government institutions.

Handbook of Social Media Use: Online Relationships, Security, Privacy, and Society explores the determinants of social media use in individuals. This book investigates the ways in which individuals use social media to engage with their social world. This multi-contributed book also discusses the challenges and individual and social risks that may arise from social media, including addiction. Social media platforms provide us with opportunities to engage in our social worlds in ways that are unprecedented. Social media enhances and transforms how we interact with our social world, both online and offline. With this increase in available individual information and interconnectedness, new avenues for the exploitation and influences of individuals are discovered, hence this book is an ideal resource on the topics covered. - Reviews the links between social media and cybersecurity - Outlines the demographic differences in social media use - Discusses the rise in fake news through social media - Explores social media addiction, symptoms, diagnosis, and possible treatments