Youth in productive activities

Youth Employment is one of the most pressing challenges for developing countries: productive and decent work must be made available to ensure long-term stability and economic prospects. 

As such, the creation of sufficient employment opportunities requires concerted efforts by Governments, the international community, the private sector, youth themselves, and other stakeholders to generate prospects that afford a better future for young people.

Youth Entrepreneurship Development (YED) is another priority area, in which UNIDO aims at promoting technical skills training to empower youth, develop the local business environment and instill an entrepreneurial culture.

Vocational Technical Education should prepare both young men and women for professions or jobs that are based on non-academic approaches, related to specific trades, occupations or vocations in line with market demands. It includes technical skills development, as the trainees develop hands on expertise in a specific technology and sector.

Within this context, UNIDO is implementing a pilot project for the Mano River Union, which very much focuses on youth-led development, i.e. community and business projects devised and implemented by young people. Indeed, UNIDO sees this project as a practical means for on-the-job training and as the most effective strategy for passing on information, knowledge and skills to young people.

Within the project, UNIDO's activities focus on:

• Access to funding
• Training on entrepreneurship and best practices
• Youth-led business start-ups
• Youth-led social entrepreneurship
• Youth-led communication platform