Decent Jobs for Youth strengthens partnerships on green & digital youth employment

KIGALI, RWANDA, 24 May 2024 |


The global conference of the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth, "Young, Green and Digital," successfully concluded on 23 May 2024. Held in Kigali, Rwanda, the two-day conference brought together a diverse group of over 200 in-person participants and 500 online attendees from around the world, representing a wide range of youth employment stakeholders from governments, employers’ and workers’ organisations, youth-led organizations and many more members of the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth.


The conference aimed at stimulating innovative thinking and facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration on skills and job creation strategies that foster opportunities for young people in the green and digital economies. It also sought to broker partnerships among participants and mobilize political will and resources for more and better jobs for youth.


As a multi-stakeholder alliance led by the ILO, the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth is committed to enhancing action and impact on youth employment in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In his opening remarks, the Director-General of the ILO, Mr Gilbert Houngbo, emphasized the urgency of increasing investments in youth employment through the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth. He urged conference participants to turn words into action “by engaging with young people as equal partners and by ensuring that our decisions and policies leave no one behind”.


The Conference was co-created by Decent Jobs for Youth partners who shared their experiences, mobilized their networks, and identified concrete follow up actions to prompt scale and impact. Key conversations explored sectors of job-rich growth within the green and digital economies, pathways to integrate youth voices and innovations, the role of social protection and the promotion of rights at work. Young women, youth from rural areas, forcibly displaced youth and young persons with disabilities took centre stage, shared solutions and called for further investments to ensure inclusive transitions to decent work.


The sessions also featured the important work of the ILO and partners under the PROSPECTS Programme (see programme), funded by the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; as well as the growing evidence emerging from the implementation of the Pro-Agro Youth and JOY projects funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).


The Conference served as an opportunity to welcome new partners, including IFAD, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (see commitment), Fundación SES (see commitment), and the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (see commitment), as well as to convene the first in-person meeting of the Youth Advisory Group of the Green Jobs for Youth Pact (see partnership).


During the Conference, the ILO and the World Bank launched a policy brief on the role of Active Labour Market Programmes in improving employment and earnings of young people (see publication). The brief builds on a 12-year effort to identify, systematize and analyse empirical evidence from impact evaluations of youth employment programmes across the globe. In linking to this massive research effort, Ms Mia Seppo, ILO’s Assistant Director-General for Jobs and Social Protection, stressed in her closing remarks to “follow the evidence and keep it updated”, highlighting the importance of continuous investments in rigorous evaluations.


With this global conference, the ILO emphasized the key role of the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth as an avenue to galvanize action on youth employment and a platform to bring the voices of young people closer to decision making mechanisms and emerging alliances, including the Global Social Justice Coalition. Decent Jobs for Youth partners ended the conference with a renewed commitment towards effective multi-stakeholder action with and for young people.


Key Action Items



  • Strengthen the promotion of youth employment through comprehensive and gender-responsive employment strategies or policies that integrate the needs of young people and recognize the importance of fostering job creation and skills development, including in the green and digital economies.

  • Expand investments and partnerships on skills development and mentorship that effectively equip young people with the knowledge, skills and psychosocial support needed to tackle global issues and succeed in the labour market.

  • Foster opportunities for young people in the digital and green economies through innovative intervention models and partnerships that enhance their skills, boost the labour demand and improve intermediation, considering complementary and catalytic investments in infrastructure development and access to markets.

  • Invest in decent jobs for youth in the rural economy through innovative approaches that integrate digital and green technologies, value chain development, and solutions for wage employment, enticing interest among young people to stay and work in rural areas.

  • Advocate for the promotion of sexual and reproductive health in businesses environments and promote the economic empowerment of young women and girls through initiatives that address gender biases in the green and digital economies and open opportunities for decent work.

  • Untap the potential of young persons with disabilities in the world of work by educating employers, advocating for inclusive policies, and by engaging with individuals with disabilities, the organizations that represent them, and government agencies with expertise on inclusive policies and strategies.

  • Scale up action with and for young refugees and youth in host communities across niche sectors conducive to productive employment and decent work and support the enabling environment for the integration of young refuges in formal jobs, including through digital work platforms.

  • Rigorously evaluate youth employment interventions, in the short and long term, and share lessons learned to positively influence design and implementation of policies and programmes.


Read the full report.

Partners

  • Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)

  • Education for Employment (EFE)

  • International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

  • International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

  • International Labour Organization (ILO)

  • Making Cents International

  • Plan International

  • United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

  • United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

  • United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

  • United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

  • United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

  • Youth Business International (YBI)

  • United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY)

  • World YMCA

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands

  • VVOB

  • Shengma Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd.

  • THE WORLD BANK

  • Luxembourg Cooperation

  • TofaraOnline

  • JuventudEsGTO

Kigali , Rwanda

Published Date

24 May 2024