“I used to tell young people to stand up for their ideas,” said Tiana Razafinimanana, in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. Today, she is not only helping the country’s young people express their ideas – she is helping to make those ideas a reality.

Today is International Youth Day, which focuses this year on the civic engagement of young people. As in many countries, young people are Madagascar’s greatest untapped resource. A third of the country’s population is between 10 and 24 years old; if fully empowered, they could be an engine of productivity and progress.

But Madagascar’s youth face considerable hurdles, including limited access to education and training, poor access to reproductive health information and care, lack of decent jobs, and insufficient representation in decision-making processes. Girls and young women face even higher barriers to empowerment.