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Dear readers,
The second edition of the Youth Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment (YES) Forum, held on 20 November 2019 at the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia highlighted the current importance and growing potential of youth entrepreneurship in creating decent jobs for youth across Africa. The annual event, co-organised by five UN agencies, brought together 600 participants, both young people and others who act in their interests. Stakeholders discussed the key role of youth in shaping policies, enhancing trade, and building entrepreneurial ecosystems for One Africa. The forum was linked to the World Export Development Forum, which also had a strong youth component, including a Youth Media zone and training, entrepreneurial pitch training, and a pitch competition. As part of the programme of activities, ten incubators from Africa and Afghanistan received strategy and leadership coaching.
The International Trade Centre has been part of the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth since its inauguration and continues to lead the thematic area on youth entrepreneurship, of which the YES Forum forms an integral part. With the help of collaborative stakeholder action under the umbrella of the Global Initiative, we are able to create conversations and generate results for young entrepreneurs across Africa and beyond.
Learn more about the YES Forum and other actions of Decent Jobs for Youth partners in this October-December issue.
Anne Chappaz,
Chief, Institutional Strengthening and Youth and Trade Section, International Trade Centre
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Upskilling one million youth by 2030
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| In November 2019, Decent Jobs for Youth partners welcomed the commitment of Plan International to equip 1 million young people from disadvantaged communities with a range of skills to succeed in wage and self-employment. Announced during the YES Forum, Plan’s commitment relies on a comprehensive approach that leverages the role of educational and training institutions as well as the private sector to facilitate an enabling environment to improve the duration and intensity of skills and entrepreneurship investments in the youth. Read more |
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Uplifting youth employment evidence in Africa
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| A three year partnership between IDRC, INCLUDE and ILO is shedding light on what works to improve labour market outcomes of African youth, with a focus on new evidence around soft skills development, digital jobs and work-based learning as well as synthetizing empirical evidence to support informed policy decisions. IDRC’s commitment on Boosting Decent Employment for Africa's Youth was announced during the YES Forum and will soon offer a glance at the first results from impact research studies and evidence reviews commissioned through the initiative. Read more |
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The Alliance for YOUth expands to Sub-Saharan Africa
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| The Alliance for YOUth started in 2014 as a corporate effort of Nestlé to help prepare young people for the world of work. After consolidating its footprint in Europe and Latin America, Nestlé launched the Regional Alliance for Sub-Saharan Africa in Côte d'Ivoire on 30 October 2019 with interlinked events in Angola and South Africa on 31 October and 4 November. The Regional Alliance will focus on implementing employability programmes, mentorship and training initiatives designed to equip young people with essential workplace skills. Read more |
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Do you have a solution for creating decent jobs for youth, especially young women, in Uganda?
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| The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands issued a call for innovative and sustainable solutions that improve labour market outcomes of young Ugandans. The call, with a deadline of 15 February 2020, is part of the Ministry’s commitment to Decent Jobs for Youth, and seeks to create decent work opportunities for 200,000 young men and women in West Africa/Sahel, Horn of Africa, North Africa and the Middle East regions. Read more |
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New research on youth entrepreneurship and the greening of economies
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| “Growing Green: fostering a green entrepreneurial ecosystem for youth” is the latest Decent Jobs for Youth publication produced with the support of the Citi Foundation. The study reviews entrepreneurial ecosystems in 10 countries with a focus on the capacity and opportunities to boost business performance among young green entrepreneurs. Launched on 4 December 2019 at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid, Spain, the study drew an important dialogue among youth, policymakers and social partners on strategies to boost sustainable youth self-employment that fosters a competitive, low-carbon, environmentally-friendly economy. Read more |
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African women and the Data Revolution
Blossom Academy hosted a Data Engineering training session at the DIVA festival, an event targeting women interested in data-driven fields. The session encouraged women to join the movement to create a new generation of African Data Scientists. Read more |
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Digital skills for young persons with disabilities
Under the tagline “Making the Future of Work inclusive of persons with disabilities”, the ILO Global Business and Disability Network (GBDN) conference offered a unique platform to share experiences and call for action to smoothen the transition of persons with disabilities into decent work. The Decent Jobs for Youth team contributed to the session that explored the potential of boosting the employability of young persons with disabilities by equipping them with digital skills. Read more |
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2 - 4 December,
Sharm el-Sheikh |
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Following the evidence on the school to business transition
Research on youth entrepreneurship and self-employment by the Decent Jobs for Youth team was presented at the 2019 African Economic Conference (AEC), jointly organized by African Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Development Programme. Read more |
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The Future of Full Employment Symposium
Last month, the Public Employment Services of Spain introduced the Action Plan For Youth Employment 2019-2021 at the ILO Employment Policy Research Symposium. The Plan, known as Plan de Choque por el Empleo Joven, offers young people across Spain improved opportunities for training, employment and decent work. Read more |
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| Decent jobs for youth on social media |
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Support the communications campaign #invalidopinions
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When it comes to disability, everyone has an opinion...
Still, many invalid opinions hold back millions of people with disabilities globally from entering and progressing in the workplace. Oftentimes, people with disabilities continue to be dismissed, judged or belittled.
Mostly, these invalid opinions and comments aren’t even intended to be malicious. They’re well-meaning, but miss the mark, because the person making them assumes the person they’re addressing is weaker, more vulnerable, or less likely to succeed professionally and in life in general because of their disability.
The #invalidopinions campaign puts a spotlight on a number of individuals defying these invalid opinions everyday – asking the viewer to confront their own beliefs and misconceptions that might be inadvertently contributing to millions of individuals worldwide, being held back in the world of work. Your opinion matters. Make sure it's valid. Read more
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