Youth Employment and Microenterprise

1
Youth Employment and Microenterprise

• A Peace Corps Approach to Ensuring Employment for
  Youth

2
"Youth make up more than 40 per cent of the
world's total unemployed. There are an estimated
66 million unemployed young people in the world
today an increase of nearly 10 million since
1965.
3
Under-employment is also another growing concern.
.. Increasingly, young people are turning to the
informal sector for their livelihood, with little
or no job protection, benefits, or prospects for
the future." Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General,
July 2001
4
How is the world responding?
5
UN Secretary Generals Youth Employment Network
(YEN)

• Collaborative effort between UN, ILO and World
  Bank
• High-level panel meeting in Geneva, July 2001
• Network draws on most creative leaders in private
  industry, economic policy and civil society
  (including youth leaders) to explore imaginative
  approaches to youth employment challenge.

6
Objectives of UN YEN

• formulate a set of recommendations on youth
  employment which the Secretary-General will
  propose to world leaders for action
• disseminate information on good practices and
  lessons learnt from specific past or ongoing
  youth employment policies and programmes
• identify, for implementation with its partners, a
  series of collaborative youth employment
  initiatives.

7
Youth Employment Summit

• Launched in September, 2002 in Alexandria, Egypt
• Most recent meeting September, 2004 in Mexico
• GOALS
• To build the capacity of young people to create
  sustainable livelihoods
• To establish an entrepreneurial culture where
  young people will work towards self employment

8
Recent Events

• March 2005- Youth Employment Summit Youth
  Employment Network form Partnership
• Kenya to host YES 2006

9
YES Country Networks and LAC

• Guyana 
• Jamaica 
• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Chile
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador

• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Paraguay 
• Peru
• Uruguay

10
Young Americas Business Trust

• Joint effort of Organization of American States
  (OAS), Inter

11
Millennium Development Goals

• Goal 8 Develop a global partnership for
  development
• Target 16 In cooperation with the developing
  countries, develop decent and productive work for
  youth.
• Indicators
• unemployment rate of people age 15-24
• Ratio of youth unemployment rate to adult
  unemployment rate
• Share of youth unemployment in total unemployment

12
What was your first job working as an employee?
13
What was your first experience as an entrepreneur?
14
Public-Private Partnerships
15
Public-Private Partnerships

• At the school or local level
• At the national, provincial or state level
• Expanding training opportunities
• Employment services
• Promotion of youth entrepreneurship and self
  employment
• Government support of private industries

16
Youth employment is of interest to Peace Corps
programming for 3 major reasons

• Immediately contributes to family livelihood.
• Provides on the job training for out-of-school
  youth, which expands a persons lifetime ability
  to earn and support a family.
• An employed youth is more likely to be positively
  engaged in civil society.

17
How do we promote Youth Employment?

• Promote basic education reading, writing, math,
  and science
• Help Youth learn how to learn
• Encourage Youth to use all their senses

18
How do we promote Youth Employment (Continued)?

• Give Youth opportunities to learn by doing
• Challenge Youth to reason, recognize patterns,
  question patterns, analyze information, and think
  critically.
• Inspire and support Youth to take responsibility
  for their learning, apply the learning in life,
  and face the consequences of action.

19
How do we promote Youth Employment (Continued)?

• Help Youth gain locally AND universally needed
  knowledge and skills
• Help Youth learn from others and work with
  others.
• Help Youth develop their abilities and take risks.

20
Youth Employment Model
Entrepreneurship
Business Plans Marketing Accounting Costing/Pricin
g
Agricultural Artisanal Crafts Services Animal
husbandry
Technical Training
Leadership Development
Soft skills Community activities
21
In-School Youth and Business

• Business Courses
• Business Clubs
• Parent-Teacher/Student Associations
• ICT (Computer Centers)

22
Out-of-School Youth and Business

• Youth NGOs
• Community Centers/Groups
• Faith-Based Organizations (Churches, Mosques,
  Temples, etc.)
• Nonformal Education

23
Organizations/Resources

• International Labor Organization
• Education Development Center (EDC)
• Junior Achievement
• National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship
• Commonwealth Youth Programme
• International Youth Foundation

24
Questions????