Youth Livelihoods
www.microLINKS.org/youth
Recent estimates suggest that developing countries are home to 1.3 billion of the world’s 1.5 billion youth aged 15-24. While the youth population continues to grow rapidly, economic opportunities in the form of access to education, employment, or entrepreneurship are not growing at a proportional rate. Unemployment rates are much higher for youth than for adults, in some countries up to 7 times as high. According to the 2007 World Development Report, “youth make up 25 percent of the working population worldwide, but 47 percent of the unemployed.” Demographic shifts caused by the rural exodus to urban areas, stagnant literacy rates, and static numbers of higher education opportunities all contribute to the need for greater attention to youth and their economic prospects. In many countries, unemployment, underemployment and dubious informal sector employment leave much insecurity. All of these factors are leading to heightened concerns about the potential for disaffected and idle youth to participate in potentially destabilizing or destructive activities.
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Crédit Ecolage helps families finance their children's education. For more details, click here. (Photo credit: USAID/Haiti) |
USAID is committed to supporting innovative approaches to tackling this complex challenge. USAID’s Microenterprise Development office (MD) is also committed to ensuring that our development programs have the best possible outcomes and impact on youth. MD contributes through funding events, evaluation and other research; through the development of promising practices and guidelines; and through direct project funding. Through these efforts, MD hopes to help create sustainable economic opportunities for youth. You are invited to browse through these pages for resources and ideas, and also to submit any suggestions via e-mail to
microlinks@qedgroupllc.com. If you have any questions or comments on USAID activities in the field of youth livelihoods, please send an e-mail to
youth@microlinks.org.
- The USAID Activities page gives an overview of various USAID projects -present and past- related to good practices and innovations in youth-inclusive development.
- The Resources page provides documents, presentations, links, and more in seven topic areas: Understanding the Challenge, Economic Strengthening for Vulnerable Youth, Social Protection and Youth, Financial Services and Literacy for Youth, Self-Employment for Youth, Employment/Employability for Youth, and Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment..
- The Events page features conferences, workshops, trainings and online discussions that aim to improve social and economic conditions for youth.
