Nicaraguan youth complete an average of six years of schooling. Along the Caribbean coast, youth average less than three years of schooling. This not only results in a youth population with low levels of productivity and high unemployment rates, but also constrains economic development.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Public Health Institute have partnered to launch a second cohort of the Youth Champions Initiative – an exciting initiative to advance innovation and quality in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights globally. The Youth Champions Initiative (YCI) invests in visionary young champions who lead the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) movement now and for the next generation. Following a competitive selection process, YCI will select 18 visionary young people working in Packard Foundation priority geographies – India (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi), Ethiopia (Oromiya and Addis Ababa), Pakistan (Karachi), and the United States (Louisiana and Mississippi).
Bridging the Skills Gap: Insights from Employers, Educators, and Youth in Latin America and the Caribbean presents the findings of a 10-month investigation of the secondary education school-to-work transition and trends in youth employability in Colombia, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic. These three countries were selected to ensure representation of South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. With support from the FHI Foundation, FHI 360 and Results for Development Institute (R4D) led this study to advance an understanding of the skills gap that prevents companies from finding qualified candidates to employ.
Child Trends, nter-American Development Bank / Multilateral Investment Fund, The MasterCard Foundation
Case studies are an important method of applied and empirical research. They can provide a clear understanding of how a sequence of events happened, and help to untangle cause and effect. The MasterCard Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank / Multilateral Investment Fund commissioned case studies to get an in-depth understanding of the process and contextual factors at play when implementing interventions aimed at strengthening soft skills for youth in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), respectively. The purpose of the session is to provide governments, foundations, donors, and private sector concrete knowledge on what works and what doesn't work when supporting scale up of soft skills interventions.
Chemonics International and Making Cents International
Expanding access to finance is a challenging endeavor. Add in conflict and the obstacles can seem insurmountable. Join Making Cents International and Chemonics International on a deep dive into two programs that are currently addressing those obstacles by focusing on mobile technologies, new opportunities for youth and women, and strong local partnerships. Arelis Gomez, Chief of Party of the USAID Colombia Rural Finance Initiative, and Omaid Deqati Rahimi, Banking Capacity Team Lead of the USAID Financial Access for Investing in the Development of Afghanistan will share their respective program’s methodologies, best practices, and lessons learned for youth inclusive financial services programming when conflict and uncertainty loom.
The high prevalence of violence in Central America is a major human and institutional development challenge that the Feed the Future project, Innovation for Agricultural Training and Education (InnovATE), has identified as affecting agriculture development. InnovATE specifically investigated high violence in Central America, in relation to high education dropout rates, and concluded that violence in the region is a pervasive, complex issue that requires a pervasive, complex response from multiple sectors working to end hunger and poverty.
FSG partnered with Coca-Cola Brazil to drive greater adoption of shared value within the company. FSG developed a company-wide vision, guiding principles, and a strategy for shared value, identifying 6 strategic priority areas ripe with potential to create significant business and social impact. Operating in 126 sites and reaching 60,000 young people across the country, Coletivo is one of Coca-Cola Brazil’s flagship shared value programs, which strengthens the business by advancing the economic and social conditions in the communities in which Coca-Cola operates. In 2014, Coca-Cola Brazil partnered with FSG to identify opportunities to increase the business and social impact of Coletivo and assess other opportunities to create shared value.
Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
President Obama’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) empowers entrepreneurs and innovative civil society leaders to strengthen their capacity to launch and advance their entrepreneurial ideas and effectively contribute to social and economic development in their communities. In fall 2016, 250 YLAI Professional Fellows from Latin America and the Caribbean will expand their leadership and entrepreneurial experience through fellowships at businesses and civil society organizations across the U.S.
Check out this PowerPoint presentation from the Workforce Connections event, Can Youth Employment Reduce Violence in Latin America?, held on March 25th, 2015.
