Empowering youth across the world
Meet some of the young people building a future in trade
Youth empowerment and entrepreneurial capabilities are critical to ensuring economic growth and eliminating extreme poverty in developing countries. Globally some 200 million youths work for less than $2 a day, the majority of which live in developing countries.
With elevated youth unemployment rates – almost 30% in North Africa – along with increased susceptibility to working poverty and a growing youth population, there is a need to boost job creation and higher quality job opportunities.
Launched in 2017, the Gambia Youth Empowerment Project is the flagship International Trade Centre (ITC) project to empower youth. It seeks to strengthen existing youth and entrepreneurial support structures in the Gambia and works closely with private-sector partners to develop the local economy and create self-employment opportunities. So far, more than 700 youths have been trained on entrepreneurship and more than 250 on technical and vocational capabilities in sectors including information and communication technology (ICT), solar and satellite technologies and agribusiness.
ITC also supports the Geneva Impact Hub’s Accelerate2030 partnership, which promotes social entrepreneurship, as well as the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth, a multi-agency response aimed at creating a more enabling business environment for young people.
These photos show some of the young people ITC has worked with who are now empowering other youth and improving the economic fabric of their societies.
