The Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) and the UNDP office in the Kingdom have signed a project agreement on developing a National Youth Strategy. The project aims at producing a National Youth Strategy document that will answer five questions relating to youth in the Kingdom; their current status, where the country and the youth want to head in the future, how to reach there, and how to measure accomplishments in this respect. Moreover, a National Youth Strategy represents a declaration and commitment of the priorities, directions and practical support that a country intends to give to the development of its young men and women. As a statement, it raises the profile and understanding of young people and acts as a national vision, framework, and consensus regarding their involvement in community and national life, according to a report of the Ministry of Economy and Planning. The Comprehensive National Youth Strategy has taken into consideration the needs as well as aspirations of young Saudis between the age of 15-24. It will involve all stakeholders and institutions working with and/or for youth in the country (GOs, NGOs, international organizations) in all stages of the strategy's process (planning, decision-making as well as implementing and evaluating). The strategy will facilitate involvement of young people themselves in all stages of its progressive process. It will also be based on an interactive and participatory approach. The National Youth Strategy project consists of five main phases: Planning and preparation during the first phase will involve gathering all data, resources and research material regarding youth in the Kingdom, designing the action plan of the project, formation of different committees, identifying roles and responsibilities for each individual in the projects and starting media campaign for developing the strategy. Phase two will involve analyzing the collected data and resources, conducting a comprehensive background study regarding youth in the Kingdom, conducting a series of workshops all over the Kingdom to find out youth opinions and aspirations from the strategy, collecting examples of NYS all over the world and designing the structure and outline of the strategy document. Phase three will have organization of data collected and developing the first draft of the strategy. Phase four will review the strategy document and get feedback from different sources, modify the strategy draft according to feedback and finalize the final document. Phase five will approve the NYS document, seek government's approval and designing a promotional and organizational commitment plan and an official launch of the strategy document.
