If you come from the Arab region, you will no doubt recognize the term "Khattaba”—the word used to describe the traditional matchmaker who helps a young man find a bride. The Khattaba looks for certain qualifications in the bride-to-be that have been set by the groom or his mother, and holds complete discretion in determining a potential bride’s suitability. The brides have very little say in their futures. And when the marriage struggles or fails, the Khattaba is often blamed for poor judgment.
Throughout the world, young people contribute their ideas and energy by starting businesses, leading organizations, volunteering, and addressing some of the biggest global problems. However, far too many youth don’t have access to the opportunities they need to get by, much less reach their full potential. A new video animation highlights global statistics while underscoring the need for greater investment in youth economic opportunities.
Our Young World, created by IYF in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation—offers five key recommendations for supporting youth to thrive:
Stop for a minute to think back to when you were a “youth” — say, when you were 19 years old — transitioning from adolescence into adulthood.
Did you have ideals and ideas that motivated you and peers and adult mentors who positively influenced you?
Did you have family who supported you and a community that you felt part of and in which you had a voice?
Did you have a sense of who you were and access to physical and psychological safe spaces where you could express your identity?
In September, Making Cents International convened our 11th annual Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit (GYEO Summit). Our Summit theme, “The Future of Work: Youth Economic Opportunities in a Changing World of Work” acknowledged the big global trends associated with “the future of work”, and explored how the demographic, structural, and technical impacts of these changes affect young people in developing contexts.
The Ugandan economy is largely reliant on agriculture, yet interest in farming among youth is low. Robert Anyang explores what it takes to motivate Uganda’s young people to work in the agriculture sector.
A growing number of universities around the world offer programmes that educate students to be entrepreneurs. This is an exciting and promising trend in light of the global youth employment crisis. Reliance on existing businesses to create jobs cannot possibly resolve this situation – a focus on business creation is essential. Institutions of higher education need to equip students to create a vast number of new enterprises and new jobs.
President Trump’s rhetoric about the decline of the working class blames trade, immigration and the outsourcing of American jobs overseas for the decline of the U.S. manufacturing sector. But the bigger culprit is rarely acknowledged by politicians or the media: automation. Nearly 9 in 10 jobs that have disappeared since 2000 were lost to automation, according to a study by Ball State University. As Barack Obama said in his presidential farewell speech in Chicago earlier this year, the next wave of economic dislocations “will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes a lot of good, middle-class jobs obsolete.”
President Trump’s rhetoric about the decline of the working class blames trade, immigration and the outsourcing of American jobs overseas for the decline of the U.S. manufacturing sector.
But the bigger culprit is rarely acknowledged by politicians or the media: automation. Nearly 9 in 10 jobs that have disappeared since 2000 were lost to automation, according to a study by Ball State University. As Barack Obama said in his presidential farewell speech in Chicago earlier this year, the next wave of economic dislocations “will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes a lot of good, middle-class jobs obsolete.”
Youth employment projects face varying contextual realities and constraints that often result in generating innovations when adapting and customizing their monitoring and evaluation system. There is a lag in the spread of innovations due to the various contexts, funders, and organizations often operating independently. Project teams find their own solutions to similar rising challenges, which in some instances lead to a medley of methods and conventions in monitoring and evaluation that lack a uniform standard.
With the launch of the U.S. Government’s Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS) last year, the role of employment and livelihoods has come to the forefront. Given the high presence of youth in the labor force in many GFSS countries, the role of agriculture compared with other sectors in youth employment is receiving increasing attention in programs. USAID’s Chief Economist, in partnership with the Bureau for Food Security (BFS), convened a workshop this past October bringing researchers, USAID staff, and implementers together for an evidence-based exchange on the barriers to youth’s entry into work in rural and peri-urban areas.
