Implementing a Youth Volunteer Project (PE0120)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Peru Action Plan 2025-2027

Action Plan Cycle: 2025

Status:

Institutions

Lead Institution: Ministry of Education

Support Institution(s):

Policy Areas

Education, Inclusion, Participatory Approaches, Public Participation, Public Service Delivery, Youth

IRM Review

IRM Report: Pending IRM Review

Early Results: Pending IRM Review

Design i

Verifiable: Pending IRM Review

Relevant to OGP Values: Pending IRM Review

Ambition (see definition): Pending IRM Review

Implementation i

Completion: Pending IRM Review

Description

Description of the commitment
What is the public problem that the commitment addresses?
A significant number of young people, especially those residing in rural communities and peripheral areas, face limited access to information on their rights, educational programs, scholarships, vocational guidance, and comprehensive training opportunities. This information gap reduces their capacity to make informed decisions about their educational, labor, and social future, and limits their possibilities for social and economic inclusion.

This situation is explained by social, economic, and educational factors, which are evidenced in the following gaps:

Information Access Gaps: According to data, 15.9% of young people live in rural areas (National Secretariat of Youth - SENAJU, 2025), and still have limited digital connectivity, which makes it difficult to access platforms that provide information on scholarships, training programs, and other educational resources. According to the results of the National Household Survey (ENAHO), 96.6% of young people residing in urban areas use the Internet, while in rural areas this figure rose to 86.2%, which evidences the digital gap between urban and rural areas of 10.4 percentage points. Likewise, digital skills are lower in rural areas.

Economic and Social Barriers: Young people residing in rural areas often face conditions of poverty and lack of economic resources, which limits them from accessing higher education or training programs. Indicators:
• Poverty: 26.0% of the young population lives in poverty, which makes it difficult for them to access any type of training.
• School enrollment rate: In rural areas, the percentage of the young population aged 17 and 18 who complete secondary education is higher in urban areas (87.0%) than in rural areas (74.5%). Similar behavior is observed among young people aged 22 to 24 who complete higher education, which is significantly higher in urban areas (25.1%) than in rural areas (12.6%).
• Youth employment: 27.5% of urban young residents have formal employment, while in rural areas formal employment is 4.8%, the gap being quite significant; many times, they must work to support their families, which makes access to educational opportunities secondary.
• Adolescent pregnancy: 18.3% of women aged 15 to 19 residing in rural areas were mothers or were pregnant for the first time, and in urban areas this figure rose to 6.1%; which evidences the gap between rural and urban areas of 12.2 percentage points. Many pregnant adolescents drop out of school before completing secondary education; in rural areas, the problem is aggravated by the lack of nearby educational centers, stigmatization, and family pressure. Adolescent pregnancy between the ages of 15 and 19 has a direct and negative impact on the education and training of young people, affecting their personal, professional, and economic development. Although in urban areas there are more resources to mitigate its effects, in rural areas the barriers are greater, perpetuating inequality.

What is the commitment?
To formulate, approve, and implement a youth volunteering project called "Information that Empowers", whose general objective is to contribute to reducing the information gap of secondary school students in rural and peripheral areas regarding the services, programs, and educational scholarships offered by the State from a life project approach, so that they make informed decisions about their future, expanding their possibilities for social, labor, and economic inclusion. The expected results are as follows:
• Third, fourth, and fifth year secondary school students from public educational institutions in rural and peri-urban areas, through a life- project approach, access clear, accessible, and culturally relevant information about the State's educational offerings, understanding the requirements, procedures, and opportunities to apply for educational programs and scholarships.
• Young men and women strengthen their civic participation through volunteering, becoming role models and catalysts who support adolescents in building their life projects based on relevant information, promoting spaces for dialogue among peers in their communities.
This will be carried out within the framework of three programs of the National Youth Secretariat:
• The Youth Volunteer Program is created through Ministerial Resolution No. 263-2025-MINEDU, the Directive for the Youth Volunteer Program is approved, and it is established within the framework of Law No. 28238, General Volunteering Law. The Program aims to promote youth participation through the implementation of activities and volunteer projects that, through training and action, generate a positive impact on adolescents, youth, and the various stakeholders of the educational community. Its target population is young people between 15 and 29 years of age. The program is implemented at the national and local levels, and activities may be carried out in three modalities: virtual, in- person, and hybrid. Within the framework of the volunteer program, the benefits for volunteers are as follows:
» Receive a Certificate of Volunteer Service Days issued by SENAJU of the Ministry of Education for the activities or projects carried out within the Youth Volunteer Program.
>> Access the different programs promoted by SENAJU to strengthen capacities, as well as various opportunities to improve employability.
» Obtain identification and attire that certify their status as volunteers, issued by SENAJU.
» Other benefits established in the General Volunteering Law, its Regulations, and its Amendments.
• The A-Gente de Cambio Program ("Service 6.1.4. Strengthening organizational capacities for youth participation" within the framework of Priority Objective No. 6 of the National Youth Policy) seeks to strengthen young people's competencies so that they assume an active role as agents of change in their communities, promoting their well- being and mental health, the development of employability skills, and the full exercise of their citizenship from a perspective that recognizes identity and intercultural diversity.
• The Peruvian project of the Youth Volunteer Program of the Pacific Alliance, which is implemented with the support of the Pacific Alliance Cooperation Fund, managed in Peru by the Ministry of Education through the National Youth Secretariat.

How will the commitment contribute to addressing the public problem?
The issue of the information gap among the youth population in rural and peripheral areas is addressed through an intervention model based on capacity building for informed decision-making regarding their life projects and the mobilization of youth social capital through organized volunteering. The "Information that Empowers" project coordinates training, communication, and community advocacy initiatives. It is implemented across three operational levels:
Capacity Building: The core strategy involves training young volunteers on an informed decision-making approach for life project planning, educational opportunities, state programs, scholarships, and services. Subsequently, these volunteers facilitate learning sessions using interactive and gamified strategies to help local students utilize this information. In doing so, they become agents of change for informed decision-making in life project development, focusing on relevant, accessible, and culturally pertinent information (e.g., in local languages like Quechua). This ensures a decentralized, contextualized, and sustainable approach. Furthermore, they receive training in socio-emotional skills and key topics such as the right to information, community leadership, interculturality, digital tools (Aplijoven), and effective communication methodologies. Participants will receive a certificate of completion for the required academic hours.
Regarding participating high school students, they receive mentorship from the volunteers to strengthen their sense of agency in building their life projects by utilizing educational opportunities and services.
Content Production: Informational materials (graphic, digital, and audiovisual) are developed and adapted to local sociocultural contexts through focus groups. Furthermore, volunteers and participating high school students take part in production by writing scripts, recording videos, and creating process sheets for prioritized services.
Content Dissemination: The produced material will be disseminated by volunteers through workshops, local and regional fairs, public outreach, and broadcasting on local radio and TV, as well as digital platforms, including social media. This will foster peer-to-peer dialogue, where young people share information, resolve doubts, and strengthen their civic bonds through the exchange of experiences.
This comprehensive approach addresses the information deficit not only through data transfer but also by building capacity for the use of information in developing life projects, strengthening local capacities, and fostering youth citizenship through learning mentorship. Likewise, participating youth are expected to become leading actors in the democratization of access to opportunities, thereby contributing to the reduction of inequalities and improving their autonomy in decision-making regarding their educational and personal development. In this regard, the solution design and proposal validation phase is projected to be executed within the framework of the Peruvian project of the Pacific Alliance Youth Volunteer Program. For national scaling up, it will be incorporated as part of the Youth Volunteer Program projects implemented through services provided by the Ministry of Education.

Why is the commitment relevant to Open Government principles?
It strengthens transparency and access to public information, as volunteers disseminate information about scholarships, programs, and educational services at fairs, local radio, TV, and social media. Audiovisual and digital materials adapted to sociocultural contexts are produced, making it easier for students to better understand their rights and opportunities. Likewise, it contributes to closing the information usage gap for youth in rural and peripheral areas, enabling informed decision-making for the construction of their life projects.
On the other hand, it strengthens citizen participation since young volunteers (graduates, former scholarship recipients, community leaders) are facilitating agents, generating peer dialogue spaces between students and young people. The volunteers themselves and adolescent students participate in the production of content (scripts, videos, youth voiceovers). In this way, it is promoted that secondary school students not only receive information, but also interact with volunteers to resolve doubts and share experiences.

Actors Involved
For the successful development of the commitment, the following entities and organizational units of MINEDU will be engaged: National Scholarship and Educational Credit Program - PRONABEC (scholarship leaders, former scholarship recipients), General Directorate of Alternative Basic Education, Intercultural Bilingual Education, and Educational Services in Rural Areas — DIGEIBIRA (rural component), General Directorate of Regular Basic Education - DIGEBR (vocational guidance service "Educación Te Escucha"), General Directorate of Higher University Education DIGESU (articulation with universities and platform "Ponte en Carrera"), General Directorate of Technical-Productive and Higher Technological and Artistic Education - DIGESUTPA, General Directorate of Specialized Educational Services - DIGESE (educational networks), General Office of Communications-OGC (communications component), OGA (supply component), Local Educational Management Units - UGELes in Metropolitan Lima, Institutes in Metropolitan Lima, Technical-Productive Education Center-CETPRO in Metropolitan Lima, Schools in Metropolitan Lima, SENAJU (Agent of Change Program, Youth Volunteering Program, Peruvian Youth Volunteering Project of the Pacific Alliance).
Other public entities: Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations (MIMP), Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion (MTPE), Ministry of Culture (MINCUL), Subnational Governments, Decentralized Educational Management Entities (IGEDs): Regional Education Directorates (DRE), Regional Education Management Offices (GRE), UGELes, Educational Institutions (IE) at the national level.
Civil society: Regional Youth Councils-COREJU, Youth Organizations registered in the National Registry of Youth Organizations — RENOJ, School Municipalities (EBR), Regional Participatory Education Council ― COPARE (EBA), Metropolitan Student Committee - COMETE, Universities (at the national level), Institutes (at the national level), World Vision Peru, UNICEF Peru

Final Product
Youth volunteering project called "Information that Empowers" developed and implemented.

Result Indicators for the Sustainability of the Commitment
• Percentage of compliance with the activities of the schedule of the Youth Volunteering Project "Information that Empowers".
• Number of young volunteers admitted to the Youth Volunteering Project "Information that Empowers".
- Percentage of young people who access training on the training offerings of the annual capacity building plan for youth participation (Agent of Change).
• Percentage of young people who carried out the volunteering activities of the Youth Volunteering Project "Information that Empowers".
• Number of school students who participate in the project's dissemination activities.
• Percentage of school students who consider that the information received on the shared services is clear, accessible, and culturally relevant.
- Percentage of school students who express interest in accessing the shared services.
- Porcentaje de estudiantes escolares que manifiestan interés en acceder a los servicios compartidos.

Commitment monitoring information
Entity responsible for the commitment
Ministry of Education (MINEDU)
Organic unit responsible for commitment monitoring General Office of Transparency, Public Ethics, and Anti-Corruption - OTEPA