Blog

Over 67 million youth are unemployed globally and the majority live in rural areas with limited economic opportunities. The fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmingly impacted youth whose employment fell by more than twice that of adults in 2020.

This post was originally published on Helvetas' website and written by Chalachew Gebeyehu, SKY Project Manager, Helvetas; Bettina Jenny, Head of Skills Development & Education, Helvetas; and Sabrina Würmli, Advisor for Skills Development, Helvetas. 

In the Sahel region of West Africa, small and growing businesses account for nearly 50 percent of new job creation. When these businesses are women-led, the potential to drive growth is even higher: a USAID study found that, globally, these businesses grow revenues 1.5 times faster and jobs twice as fast compared to male-owned businesses.

This blog was originally posted on BEAM Exchange and was written by Isaac Cowan-Gore.

The 2020 SEEP Annual Conference looked a little different this year. With the global pandemic rapidly evolving, SEEP stayed committed to creating a safe and meaningful experience for their community of global thinkers and doers by switching to an online forum from October 26-30th. 

Youth — who make up a large portion of the potential workforce in developing countries — are often left out of markets systems, representing a significant lost opportunity to deliver social and economic benefits. 

Attention to inclusivity of youth and women in market systems development (MSD) is gaining traction around the world as part of work to strengthen inclusive agriculture-led growth, food security, poverty reduction, and improved employment. In recent years, at least 15 agriculture-related MSD activities valued at a combined half a billion U.S. dollars have targeted women and, increasingly, youth.

In August, we’ll focus on women and youth in agriculture. Throughout the month, we’ll explore gender and youth-specific constraints and opportunities in agriculture and supporting inclusive market systems.

In our recent webinar discussing the findings from the Feed the Future Advancing Women’s Empowerment (AWE) landscape analysis and case studies on women and youth inclusion in agricultural market systems, we were joined by RisiAlbania and ELAN RDC, two of the activities featured in the case studies. 

The Feed the Future Developing Local Extension Capacity (DLEC) and USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security undertook a study in Rwanda and Uganda to understand how to better engage youth in agriculture through EAS and the private sector.

This blog post highlights how the RisiAlbania project, which sponsors youth employment and skills training programs in Albania, has invested in and adapted online learning and collaboration to local contexts in the face of COVID-19.

This blog post summarizes the Cracking the Nut conference held in October 2019 and presents the downloadable conference report.

This post summarizes key themes and takeaways from the 2019 Cracking the Nut conference held in Dakar, Senegal from October 14-15.

The ILO Toolkit is a practical resource for organisations and projects to support small and medium enterprises (SME) decide what aspects of SME performance (productivity, working conditions, etc.) to measure, as well as how to measure them.

This post introduces USAID’s Creating Economic Opportunities project, which aims to help qualified people find jobs that give them the stability and prosperity they want for their families.

Najib Seguya of the Feed the Future Uganda Youth Leadership in Agriculture (YLA) activity’s Strategic Activities Fund team discusses key considerations to keep in mind when designing a pay-for-results (PfR) program, also known as performance-based financing.

In August, Marketlinks is focusing on the Pay-for-Results model in global development. This post from NextBillion offers insights on how and when to use a results-based finance model.

The Government of Morocco is addressing the challenge of providing youth with skills to enter complex, highly competitive global industries. Morocco's Employability and Land Compact introduces a scalable model for secondary education to improve graduates' employability.

This post highlights critical questions about youth entrepreneurs and how to build an inclusive system that supports them through both financial and non-financial means.

This post highlights two youth dairy farmers through Feed the Future Kenya Investment Mechanism Program with the support of USAID Kenya.

In July, Marketilnks is spotlighting Youth Employment in observance of World Youth Skills Day. Check out this post on measuring youth skills development.

In Moldova, the “golden triangle” of collaboration among industry, government, and academia is transforming the technology sector. Here’s the recipe for success from the Moldova Competitiveness Project.

This month, Marketlinks is highlighting the topic of Youth Employment.

USAID's Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment (E3) Office of Forestry and Biodiversity is now accepting submissions for a case study competition on biodiversity integration across USAID's portfolio.

USAID is accepting submissions to the annual Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) Case Competition until Friday, April 12.