ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

What Does the World of Work for 1.2 billion Youth Look Like? A Vision for the Future Grounded in Today’s Realities and Research was presented as a keynote address at the 2012 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference by Jose M. Salazar-Xirinachs. Salazar explores his vision for the future on the youth employment challenge, grounded in today’s realities and research.

In 2011, Restless Development, in partnership with IDS and the Pastoralist Communication Initiative, supported a group of young Karimojong men and women to conduct action research, exploring the barriers hindering young people from securing sustainable livelihoods in one of the poorest post conflict regions in Africa.  This resulted in the illustrated book “Strength, Creativity and Livelihoods of Karimojong Youth”.

Watch Deepali Khanna's presentation during the 2012 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference's closing plenary session, "How Can You Partner with Funders." Khanna, Director of Youth Learning at The MasterCard Foundation, focuses on the need to find more ways to scale up projects and demonstrate collective impact. She discusses the importance of youth financial services and emphasizes the need for access to savings, credit, and comprehensive employment models.

Watch Jasmine Thomas' presentation during the 2012 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference's closing plenary session, "How Can You Partner with Funders." Thomas, Program Officer at Citi Foundation, explains that part of her organization's mission supports the economic empowerment and financial inclusion of low-income people and provides a brief overview of the key areas they are focusing on.

This Policy on Youth in Development is the first of its kind for USAID. It is both timely and necessary as more than half of the world’s population today is under the age of 30, with the vast majority living in the developing world.As Secretary Clinton said in Tunisia in February 2012,“…in every region, responding to the needs and aspirations of young people is a crucial challenge for the future." The policy is predicated on emerging best and promising practice for youth development and engagement that are gleaned from USAID and partner’s experience in youth programming, as well as through consultations with young people across the developing world.The policy is further informed by principles and practices articulated in the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development (PPD), the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), the National Security Strategy 2010, State Department Youth Policy 2011, USAID Forward, and the USAID Policy Framework 20112015.

Comparing Evaluation Methods for Financial Education Interventions in Africa was presented under the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Impact Assessment Track at the 2012 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference.This presentation explores the importance and relative merits of various evaluation methodologies for financial education interventions for youth in Africa, through the experience of the DFID-funded Financial Education Fund (FEF).

The Iraqi Youth Initiative Presentation explores the intricacies of the Iraqi Youth Initiative, a $12 million job creation program that is operating in 15 of Iraq’s 18 provinces. The program design and implementation process that took place in a context where basic statistics, particularly on women, were few and unreliable is discussed. This was presented under the Adolescent Girls and Young Women Track at the 2012 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference.

EPAG Impact Evaluation: Preliminary Midline Results  was presented under the Adolescent Girls and Young Women Track at the 2012 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference. This presentation examines how to make school-to-work programs more “girl friendly”
throughout the project cycle and discuss what works in adolescent girl programming.

Advocating for Adolescent Girls in Africa & Latin America was presented under the Adolescent Girls and Young Women Track at the 2012 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference. This presentation discusses promising practices and concrete programming strategies, including:

Exploring the Intersection of Adolescent Girls’ Reproductive Health and Economic Empowerment was presented under the Adolescent Girls and Young Women Track at the 2012 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference. This presentation explores the intersection of reproductive health and economic vulnerability among adolescent girls.