Power Within Brief: Adolescent and Youth Life Skills Competencies

Young people represent a large proportion of the population in many countries: one in six people worldwide is between the ages of 15 and 24, and nearly half of the global population is under 30. These formative years are filled with opportunity, yet they are a finite amount of time to inform the pathway of a young person’s future. CARE’s Power Within model is a competency-based framework to support young people in building essential life skills during this critical window. In 2008, CARE launched the Power Within model for adolescent leadership development, focused on building five core competencies for people ages 10-19. Power Within’s competency framework supports young people’s development by building life skills that help them deal with the challenges and demands of their daily lives. The model contains three primary competency domains: strong self-image, strong mind, and strong voice. The competencies are transferable, which means that they can be applied in many situations, and they can be practiced throughout program activities in most, if not all, of CARE’s direct work with adolescents and youth. This approach is similar to teaching Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies in formal education that integrate ‘soft’ skills into a subject area curriculum. Power Within also aligns with the Positive Youth Development Framework, which prioritizes the development of young people’s assets, agency, contribution, and enabling environment. In 2024, the model was updated to include youth (now inclusive of ages 10-24) and reflect lessons from CARE’s work and other prominent models and evidence regarding what young people need.