Youth Employment Network (YEN) Newsletter, April 2005
this workshop sought as its primary
News Flash
National Action Plans and progress
reports submitted to the UN number over
30
Over 30 countries have made submissions to
the UN through their Permanent Missions in
New York in response to a UN Note
Verbale, reminding countries to submit their
National Action Plans on youth employment
or progress reports toward the development
of such plans.
These submissions will be incorporated into
a Global Analysis and Evaluation Report,
currently being drafted by the YEN.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan will submit
this report to the General Assembly at its
60th Session.
Theses submissions will also be discussed
by Member States during two special
plenary sessions of the General Assembly on
4-5 October 2005.
GTZ, Rotary International, ICFTU and YES
are among partners who have alerted their
networks to this process. The YENs Youth
Consultative Group (YCG) and its
constituent members have also been active
in mobilising their members in support of
this push.
Youth Employment Network Workshop
on Entrepreneurship at the World Social
Forum, Porte Alegre, Brazil
In partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of
Labour and its newly formed YEN-Brazil
advisory committee, (comprising a broad
grouping of national youth organizations)
objective to highlight the role of
entrepreneurship in the achievement of the
Brazilian Government’s Primeiro Emprego
(First Employment) Program.
The workshop also discussed strategies to
strengthen youth participation in
formulating, implementing and evaluating
youth public policies and the Primeiro
Emprego Program, and to profile the Youth
Employment Network at the World Social
Forum.
The advisory committee also established
relations with the YENs Youth Consultative
Group (a group of 13 international youth
organizations who themselves represent a
wider pool of 35 youth NGOs) with
representatives from International Union of
Socialist Youth (IUSY) the Youth branch of
the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions (ICFTU), the YMCA and the
European Youth Forum attending and
providing support to the Brazilian youth.
High-Level Panel meeting scheduled for
20-21 May in China
The All-China Youth Federation will be
hosting the next meeting of the YENs High-
Level Panel from 20-21 May in Beijing.
Planned activities include:
- A dialogue between Chinese and
International Business Leaders and the
High-Level Panel on youth employment;
- Presentation and discussion of an initiative
on development, collective security and
youth employment as requested by the High-
Level Panel at its last meeting in
Washington D.C. in September 2004;
1
- Opening of the YEN China Partnership
Office and signing of a Partnership
Arrangement between the YEN and the
ACYF;
- Presentation of Preliminary Results of the
School-to-Work Transition Survey being
undertaken by the ACYF in collaboration
with the Ministry of Labour and Social
Security and supported by the ILO;
- A review of the global analysis report of
National Action Plans on Youth
Employment as requested by UN General
Assembly Resolutions A/57/165 and
A758/133;
- Discussion and agreement on a strategy to
influence the five-year review of the
Millennium Declaration and increase the
profile of youth employment within the
MDG review.
YEN featured in major events
¾ Employment roundtable during the high-
level segment of the Commission for Social
Development, February, New York
Describing “decent work” as the engine of
economic growth and a vital tool in
combating poverty, speakers at a round-table
discussion on “promoting full employment”
during the Commission for Social
Development emphasized the urgent need to
develop active national employment
policies, focusing particularly on youth, and
coherent international strategies in the field.
Opening the discussion, Allan Larsson,
Rapportueur of the YENs High-Level Panel
noted the “sad lack” of employment policies
in international economic and social
strategies. Emphasizing the need for a broad
coalition of international organizations to
lay down concrete strategies on employment
creation, he said the world labour force
would expand over the next decade by some
500 million people, who should be seen as
assets, rather than problems.
Speakers also highlighted the need to direct
official development assistance towards
employment creation, as well as to transfer
employment-creating experiences between
nations. In that respect, Jane Stewart, ILO
member of the YEN Steering Committee
said her organization’s Global Employment
2
Agenda could be used in developing
international, regional and national action
plans for employment. Such plans should
focus on microeconomics, as well as
macroeconomics, the quantity and quality of
work, increased productivity in agriculture,
and supply and demand.
¾ Commission for Africa report includes
recommendations on youth employment
The UK-led Commission for Africa report
urges wealthy nations to double their aid to
the continent, raising it by £30bn ($50bn) a
year over 10 years.
The report included a series of
recommendations relating to the importance
of employment creation in the fight against
African poverty drawing specific attention
to the issue of youth employment and
suggesting the creation of a 100 million
USD Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund that
will encourage new partnerships in the
financial and non-financial sectors and
contribute to the African Union’s objectives
of promoting job creation for young people
and women’s entrepreneurship.
The report also suggests that Developed
countries should provide an additional 30
million USD over three years to expand the
work of the YEN in providing technical and
financial assistance to 25 sub-Saharan
African countries in drawing up national
action plans on youth employment.
¾ YEN on the agenda at the G8 Labour
and Employment Ministers’ Conference
Ministers, at the conclusion of the G8
Labour and Employment Ministers’
Conference in March, agreed to participate
actively in the discussion of youth
employment at the International Labour
Conference in June 2005 and called for a
YEN high-level roundtable dialogue,
involving ministers, business and trade
union leaders during the conference.
Jane Stewart, ILO Deputy Executive
Director, Employment Sector made a
Statement to the Conference and the ILO
submitted a background paper entitled Youth
employment: From a national challenge to a
global development goal (EN, FR)
Core Partner Activities
WPAY: Youth meet in Portugal
The UN Programme on Youth held two
consultative meetings with youth
organizations and youth representatives in
February 2005 to contribute to the review of
the implementation of the World
Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY) by
the General Assembly in October 2005. The
meetings reviewed achievements made since
the adoption of WPAY in 1995
(employment is one of the ten original
priority areas of the WPAY). The
Government of Portugal hosted the first
meeting. The outcome documents, together
with national evaluations will forum a
supplement to the Secretary-General's
World Youth Report 2005 to be submitted to
the General Assembly at its sixtieth session.
Summary reports of the discussions and
recommendations from the meetings are
available at: www.un.org/youth
30 April 2005: Deadline to submit
national evaluations
All young people are encouraged to
participate in the review of the World
Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY).
Inputs received before 30 April 2005 on the
progress made by governments and civil
society in the implementation of WPAY will
be summarized in a report that is submitted
to the General Assembly.
The Toolkit "Making Commitments
Matter", developed to support youth in this
review process, can be downloaded for free
in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese
at www.un.org/youth
The Commission for Social Development
convenes a panel on Youth
On 14 February 2005, the Commission for
Social Development discussed linkages
3
between the World Programme of Action for
Youth and the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). The panel consisted of
Johan Schölvinck (Director, Division for
Social Policy and Development, DESA and
YEN Steering Committee Member), Joao
Salviano (Bureau member European Youth
Forum and participant to the consultative
meeting in Coimbra), Renata Florentino (Co
coordinator, Brazil Youth Voices and
participant to the consultative meeting in
New York) and Guido Schmidt-Traub
(Policy Adviser, the Millennium Project).
Discussions were also held with
representatives of UN Member States.
World Bank launches Youth,
Development & Peace Network
The World Bank has intensified its work
with young people from both developed and
developing countries in the conviction that
young people are a powerful force for
change, and that they need to be empowered
to participate actively in development work
and decision-making. To better understand
their needs and priorities, the World Bank
has consulted with many youth
organizations on various occasions.
As a result, youth organizations from around
the world, together with the World Bank,
have decided to form the Youth,
Development & Peace Network. Its mission
will be to facilitate dialogue, interaction and
joint efforts between youth organizations
and the World Bank, together with other
actors involved in poverty reduction and
various development issues.
Open house events at a number of World
Bank offices were held on 21 March 2005 to
launch the network. For more information
on this Network please visit the Bank’s
Children and Youth unit and its dedicated
site for youth Youthink!
World Bank supports development
projects benefiting youth in 4 Latin
American countries
Since October 2004 the World Bank in
partnership with governments, multilateral
agencies, civil society organisations and the
private sector, has been supporting youth-
serving NGOs in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay
and Uruguay, through a US$1,000,000
“Development Fair”.
The Fair consists of a contest, in which
grants of US$10.000 have been made
available to non-profit organisations that
promote innovative programmes to instill
civic values among youth in poverty and
vulnerable situations. The innovative ideas
can be focusing on areas such as culture,
environment, education and training, gender,
public health, sports and leisure and the
inclusion of discriminated groups.A
Knowledge Forum has also been set up to
highlight strategies to promote the inclusion
of youth in society.
The winners will be announced in a
ceremony 30-31 May 2005 in Buenos Aires.
Tsunami Relief: ILO Rapid response
through partnership on youth
employment
Youth in tsunami devastated Aceh province,
Indonesia, are being given practical skills
training to enable them to find suitable
employment under a programme jointly
organised by the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) and Aceh Provincial
Department of Manpower (Disnaker).
Some 190 youth between the ages of 15 and
17 living in the camps for displaced persons
in the province have been identified to
undergo the 12-day programmes at the Aceh
Vocational Training Centre in Banda Aceh.
Youth will receive basic training in furniture
making, sewing, embroidery or computer
skills. Training is conducted in non-
exploitative and non-hazardous work,
according to the ILO-Programme for the
4
Elimination of Child Labour. This is a
response to concerns for children in the
province becoming victims of trafficking or
being employed in dangerous and unsuitable
work in the reconstruction process of Aceh.
The programme is being implemented in
partnership with government agencies,
employers, trade unions and non-
governmental organisations.
In Sri Lanka, the ILO is supporting JobsNet,
a public private partnership to provide
employment services. In the aftermath of the
tsunami the initiative trained 95 students to
survey 1,440 households in the affected
areas for targeted employment creation and
social protection programmes. In light of the
urgent need for skilled labour for
rehabilitation and reconstruction the ILO
and the Sri Lanka-YEN (SL-YEN)
Secretariat collaborated with JobsNet to
develop an information database on
availability of skilled youth in the country.
Other Tsunami resource links:
- Consultative Group on Indonesia (World
Bank and Government of Indonesia supported
by the UN agencies) Recovery and
Reconstruction Framework Chapter 2 presents
a framework for local economic revival
through entrepreneurship schemes and the
promotion of small enterprises.
- ILO and Disnaker Emergency Employment
Service in Banda Aceh
- Presentation of the ILOs Tsunami response
in Aceh
International Labour Conference 2005 to
focus on youth employment
The 93rd Session of the ILO International
Labour Conference, Geneva, 31 May – 16
June 2005 will see a general discussion item
on promoting youth employment. A
background paper has been written for this
discussion.
This discussion will build on the ILO’s
Tripartite Meeting on Youth Employment:
The way forward held in Geneva, in October
2004 and reflects a growing focus on youth
employment from the ILO’s constituents,
both technically and politically.
ILO workshop on School-to-Work
Transition Survey, 20 January 2005
Participants of the ILO Tripartite Meeting
on Youth Employment requested that the
ILO develop a set of tools that could be used
flexibly and adapted by Member States in
the formulation of youth employment
policies and programmes to bring young
people, including young migrant workers,
into productive and decent employment.
The ILO School-to-Work Transition Survey
(SWTS) is one such tool as a first step in
meeting the ILO constituents’ need for more
information on young people. It also serves
as a quantitative tool within a broader “tool
kit” of ILO-designed instruments that can be
tailored to meet the demands of countries
who seek ILO assistance in the development
of youth employment programmes and
policies.
This meeting took stock of SWTS carried
out so far in Vietnam, Indonesia, Bahrain,
Kosovo and Jordan, and sought to develop
and refine the tool for future interventions.
• Meeting background note
• Report of the SWTS in Indonesia (2004)
• Report of the SWTS in Vietnam (2003)
ILO Youth Sport Programme (YSP)
supports sport policy developments in El
Salvador.
The YSP seeks to achieve greater
recognition of the role that sports can play in
social development. The programme targets
socially excluded young women and men
and aims to identify and nurture the capacity
of sporting institutions to provide life skills
and vocational training to youth so that they
are able to play a fuller part in society.
In El Salvador, the ILO supported the
Minister of Labor and Social Security in
holding a workshop in January 2005 on
social inclusion through sports in
consultation with the National Olympic
Committee of El Salvador (COES).
Participants agreed that improving the sports
infrastructure in the country would have
positive effects on the development of
services and jobs for youth.
5
The participants suggested a number of
policy reforms including improving the
quality and numbers of sports teachers
trained, launching a campaign on healthy
lifestyles and sports, and the development of
sports related training and skills
development schemes within employment
centres of the Ministry of Labour.
News from Lead Countries
Azerbaijan
The Ministry of Labour, together with the
ILO is developing a National Employment
Strategy, National Action Plan on
Employment (NAPE) and National Action
Plan on Youth Employment (NAPYE), the
latter which is an integrated part of the
NAPE. The National Employment Strategy
is shortly expected to be signed by the
President. The Government is planning to
hold a National Youth Employment Forum
once the strategy is approved.
This Forum under the patronage of the
President of Azerbaijan, will bring together
all the concerned agencies including NGOs
and international organizations in order to
contribute to the implementation of the
NAPE (NAPYE). This meeting will enable
Azerbaijan to share its experience in
developing employment policy both
regionally and internationally as well as
showcasing best practices in securing more
and better jobs for Azeri youth.
Brazil
In partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of
Labour the newly YEN-Brazil advisory
committee is helping create a
communications network for youth, a
training plan for capacity building local
level youth organisations to participate in
decision-making, and a pilot initiative at the
municipal level to create ‘champion’ mayors
for youth employment.
The youth committee was publicly launched
at the YEN workshop the World Social
Forum. That meeting also saw the launch of
a YEN-Brazil website which the youth
committee have helped create.
Indonesia
The IYEN Network Coordinating Team,
with technical support from the ILOs youth
employment project in Indonesia is piloting
an "advocacy and awareness raising"
programme in East Java province.
Workshops will be convened in East Java to
get feedback from district level
representatives on the Indonesia Youth
Employment Action Plan (I-YEAP) to feed
into a provincial level youth employment
strategy, to be implemented at the district
level.
The IYEN is conscious that special
measures are needed to ensure that young
people, and in particular, young women are
provided with sufficient opportunity to
participate and contribute to these policy
developments. The ILO is therefore
conducting a ‘mapping exercise’ to better
understand the range of Indonesian youth
NGO, and their focus and capacities in
relation to employment issues. Following
the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami
this work has initially focused on Aceh
province, as a region with the most
immediate need. This exercise will provide
the springboard for a larger, national
mapping exercise.
Iran
Following a joint YEN / ILO mission to Iran
in December 2004 a process has been
initiated for the development of Iran’s
National Action Plan on youth employment
with close co-ordination between the Iran
National Youth Organisation (NYOIR), the
Ministry of Labour and with the support of
the ILO, the World Bank and the UNDP
country office. Steps are also being taken to
implement a School-to-Work Transition
Survey (see page 5). Support has been
offered to follow up on existing ILO
activities in Iran, especially the Iran
Employment Strategy.
Mali
The President Amadou Toumani Toure has
made youth employment the issue of his
Presidency. For last few years, the
Government of Mali has therefore placed
6
youth employment at the centre of its
national development policies.
Building on these developments the
National Agency for the Employment of
Youth (APEJ) in partnership with the
Ministry of Human Resources and the
international recruitment organisation,
Africsearch, and supported by the ILO, are
holding Mali’s first recruitment fair, Mali
Talents, in Bamako, 10 -11 Mai 2005, at the
Palais des Congrès.
The event will enable young graduates and
executives from leading Malian companies
to meet and discuss professional
development and career opportunities.
Rwanda
The Government of Rwanda and UNDP
launched the final report of the UN
Millennium Project on 18 January 2005 in
Kigali. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda
specifically mentioned youth employment in
his speech as well as Rwanda’s status as a
Lead Country of the YEN and raised
awareness of the National Action Plan
process.
Supported by seed money from UNDP the
Ministry of Labour has produced a draft
National Action Plan on youth employment
and this document was reviewed by a range
of stakeholders including youth who met
between 22-23 March 2005.
The World Bank country office along with
the Irish Development NGO Trocaire are
also supporting the NAP process.
News from around the globe
Congo
Thanks to the hard work of the President of
YWCA-Congo, Mme Alice MIRIMO
KABETSI the issue of youth employment is
rising on the agenda of the Congolese
Government.
Alice has been pursuing an active campaign
of advocacy on behalf of the YEN and the
YWCA, a member organisation of the YENs
Youth Consultative Group. Her activities
have included:
• An interview on youth employment and
the YEN with http://www.radiookapi.net,
the radio station of MONUC, the United
Nations Mission in Congo.
• Articles on YWCA-Congo’s efforts to
push for the development of a National
Action Plan on youth employment in the
weekly newspaper La Richesse Société
and Enfant & Société, the quarterly
magazine of the Centre Congolais de
L’Enfant et de las Famille (CCEF)
YWCA-Congo’s representatives have met
Government officials to discuss the
possibility of developing a NAP and are
being activity supported by the ILO office in
Kinshasa.
News from the
YEN Secretariat
An addition to the YEN Secretariat
February saw the strengthening of the YEN
Secretariat with the arrival of Sara Spånt,
Associate Expert on Youth Employment.
She joins the YEN following two years
working on employment promotion and
serving as the ILO Youth Employment
Focal Point in the ILO Sub regional Office
for East Asia in Bangkok. Sara is being
funded under the Swedish Junior
Professional Officers Programme.
Welcome Sara!
Exploring linkages between conflict and
youth employment
During the YEN High-Level Panel meeting
in Washington, DC in September 2004 the
Panel urged the World Bank and the ILO to
develop a comprehensive framework on the
link between youth employment,
development and collective security as a
basis for the promotion of the YEN strategy.
The YEN Secretariat along with its partners
at the Bank and the ILO are responding in a
number of ways:
7
Research proposals
The ILO, in support of the YEN, is
developing a proposal for a research project
on Youth Employment and Collective
Security that will tackle the relationship
between the two issues. This proposal will
be discussed during the next High-Level
Panel meeting in China (see page 1)
Reports
The YEN Secretariat has also contributed to
a report of the UN Office for West Africa on
ways to address youth unemployment in
West Africa. A UN Security Council
Mission to West Africa in 2004 had asked
UNOWA to "undertake a major
collaborative effort with UN peace missions
and the rest of the UN system in the sub-
region, as well as other partners, to devise a
practical and concerted regional approach to
the pressing problem of youth
unemployment."
The YEN Secretariat and the ILO have been
actively involved in drafting the module on
Youth and DDR for an Inter-agency project
to develop international standards on
Disarmament Demobilisation and
Reintegration (DDR) which will be adopted
by all UN agencies and endorsed by the
United Nations Development Group.
Partnerships
UNHCR and the YEN have agreed to work
together to produce a joint paper on youth
unemployment in West Africa to identify
potential linkages between the two
institutions.
These new links focus on improving
employment prospects for refugee youth in
West Africa as one element in breaking the
cycle of unemployment, poverty and conflict
in the region.
YEN poster campaign set to launch
The YEN has developed a set of awareness
raising posters and postcards which will be
launched during High Level Panel meeting
in Beijing (see page 1)
The campaign will have two linked
objectives, first to raise awareness of the
importance of youth employment at the
national level and to provide advocacy tools
and resources for youth groups and other
partners to successfully lobby governments
to develop effective policy responses to the
challenge of youth employment, including
the creation of National Action Plans.
Secondly the campaign will seek to generate
consensus at international meetings in the
run up to the Five-Year Review of the
Millennium Declaration of youth
employment being an integral part of the
Declaration and a key contribution to
achieving all the Millennium Development
Goals, specifically those related to poverty
reduction. Please contact the YEN
Secretariat if you are be interested in using
some of these materials.
Visitors to the Secretariat
In recent months the YEN has meet with
Government delegations from Iran, Kenya
and Ghana, with the South African
Employers organizations and with
representatives of the South African
Umsobomvu Youth Fund.
Conversations have focused on the
submission of National Action Plans on
youth employment or progress reports
toward the development of such plans by
these counties.
The YEN participated in Video Conference
in March 2005 with the US Department of
Labour (US-DOL) to discuss youth
participation strategies and the linkages
between the issues of child labour and youth
employment. US-DOL are compiling a
listing of youth participation resources so to
better inform their work in this field. They
would welcome any additions to this list that
member of YEN may know of. Please send
your submission to USDOL via the YEN
Secretariat.
YEN Secretary, Steven Miller met with
representatives from USAID in Washington
DC in February to discuss synergies and
possible areas of joint collaboration.
8
News from Partners
GTZ supporting youth participation in
Uganda’s PRSP
YEN partner GTZ is supporting Ugandan
youth organizations to contribute to the
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)
process in their country.
This project is part of a series activities
developed by GTZ supporting the
participation and empowerment to youth in
national development strategies. These
activities, which include the capacity
building of youth organisations to
participate in decision-making processes,
were developed in-line with the final
outcomes of the the XV Malente
Symposiumand International Youth
Dialogue in October 2004 in Lübeck which
both were held under the banner of Youth
Employment, Empowerment and
Participation; Securing the Future
In a country-wide evaluation the Ugandan
youth organization “Foundation for
Democracy and Conflict Resolution” will
examine the participation of young people in
the formulation and revision of the PRSP in
Uganda. The outcomes of this review will be
specific recommendations on how to
strengthen the role and input of youth in the
PRSP process.
A representative of the “Foundation” will
present the results of this initiative at the
World Bank’s Civil Society Global Policy
Forum which takes place 20-22 April 2005.
International Youth
Federation launches African
youth employment initiative.
In February 2004, an alliance of global
organizations was launched to help young
people in Africa develop skills and
strengthen attitudes and behaviours to find
and keep jobs.
IYF officially launched the “Alliance for
African Youth Employability” with the US
Agency for International Development
(USAID), Nokia, and Lions Clubs
International Foundation. Both USAID and
Nokia have collectively committed over
US$1.8 million to the initiative. Lions Clubs
International will utilize its networks in
Malawi and Rwanda to provide training,
mentoring, and placements for the program
participants, and to raise additional funds.
Over five years, the Alliance will promote
employability and employment for more
than 35,000 disadvantaged young people
aged 14 to 29 living in rapidly urbanizing
areas of South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique
and Rwanda. Young people will receive not
only job training, but also career
counselling, direct placement in internships
and jobs, and the skills to create their own
businesses.
YEN supports Youth Action Net in
profiling youth employability in Africa
A dynamic website created by and for young
people, YouthActionNet spotlights the vital
role that youth play in leading positive
change around the world. Launched in 2001
by the International Youth Foundation (IYF)
and Nokia, YouthActionNet serves as a
virtual gathering place for young people
looking to connect with each other -- and
with ideas for how to make a difference in
their communities.
In March and April 2005, with support from
the YEN and other partners including LEAP
Africa, and Youth Development Network of
South Africa this site celebrated African
Youth Employability Month where
recognition was given to young people in
Africa who are helping themselves and other
young men and women to build and enhance
their own employability. Activities
promoted by the site included an Essay
Contest, a Youth Employability Toolkit,
articles, featured profiles and projects, a
survey and a quiz.
YouthActionNet is also inviting nominations
for its twice-annual awards scheme that aims
to recognize the achievements of 20
outstanding young leaders around the world.
Eligibly criteria and application information
can be found at:
9
http://www.youthactionnet.org/yan_awards.
ImagineNations – supporting the
aspirations of young people
ImagineNations, a new initiative of YEN
High-Level Panel, co-chair Rick Little, is a
global alliance of social entrepreneurs,
thought leaders, investors, financial
institutions, global brands, media and
organizations -- all working together with
and for young people to inspire positive
change in society. ImagineNations seeks to
inform and influence policy and program
development, particularly those related to
achieving the Millennium Development
Goals.
By partnering with investors, leading
financial institutions and micro-finance
organizations, ImagineNations is working to
identify opportunities for young people
within existing equity funds and loan
portfolios that invest in entrepreneurship and
small-scale enterprise—building on “what
works” in investing and then taking it to
scale. In some cases, new funds or structures
may be required, but, wherever possible, the
focus will be on existing infrastructure.
Through partnerships with commercial
banks, private equity funds and investors,
corporations, philanthropists, international
organizations and local NGOs,
ImagineNations is developing a network of
widely available access points for young
adults to capital and business coaching for
their entrepreneurial ideas. Focusing initially
on Indonesia, the Middle East and Zambia,
these investment opportunities, offered
through ImagineNations’ partners, will
encourage savings and provide access to soft
loans, loan-guarantees and fully market-
based loans and investments.
ImagineNations’ partners will provide
young entrepreneurs with the financial
resources, training, coaching, mentoring and
business development services they need to
start and expand micro-enterprises and small
businesses.

ICFTU issue global call to action against
poverty 2005
ICFTU has declared 2005 a year of action in
pushing governments to make progress in
the fight against poverty. At the ICFTU
Congress in December 2004, the ICFTU
announced the Global Call to Action
Against Poverty, backed by a wide-ranging
coalition of groups, which are determined to
get governments to take decisive action to
reduce global poverty in 2005. The Global
Call to Action Against Poverty was
launched formally at the World Social
Forum in Porto Alegre in January 2005. Fact
sheets (including one on the linkage between
“Decent Work” and poverty reduction) and
campaign material can be found on ICFTU’s
site.
ICFTU-APRO Survey on Youth
Employment in Asia and the Pacific
ICFTU-APRO carried out a survey among
its affiliates in 2004 to collect more detailed
information on youth employment and
examine the youth employment situation in
the region.
The survey examined youth unemployment
trends, and national as well as trade union
policies and actions on youth employment.
The survey outcomes, resulted in ICFTU-
APRO placing youth employment at the
core of its future actions, policies and
strategies.
Youth employment initiative proposed by
the Euro-Med Youth Trade Union
Network (EMYTUN)
EMYTUN is launching a campaign to create
awareness on the need to create job
opportunities and more employment for
youth living in Euro-Med region including
Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
The EMYTUN therefore believes
Governments need to take immediate action
in order to create more employment for
10
youth. The campaign aims to use
communications information both to
increase visibility and the empowerment of
youth.
IOE member organization
supports career
development for South
African youth
IOE member organization, Business Unity
for South Africa (BUSA) is supporting an
innovative employability scheme for the
country’s youth. Brightest Young Minds
(BYM) is a voluntary association of students
with a vision "to create a platform that
showcases the potential of students and fast
tracks their development for the benefit of
South Africa". The association exposes
students to business leaders and top
companies in an environment that fosters
innovation and facilitates initiative.
Corporate sponsors of BYM include
Sanlam, BHP Billiton and Microsoft. BYM
hosts an annual conference to publicise the
initiative and introduce the students to their
corporate partners. Numerous follow-up
contact sessions are held between small
groups of delegates and representatives from
organisations that support BYM. Two thirds
of the students involved in BYM are black
South Africans.
AFRICATIP meeting focuses
on strengthening its work on
youth employment
AFRICATIP (Association Régionale des
Agences d'Exécution des Travaux d'Intérêt
Public) is regional network of 15 national
agencies that manage labour intensive public
works programmes (AGETIP). These
AGETIP’s, the first which was developed in
Senegal, are geared toward working with
urban authorities in labour-intensive urban
development. A meeting of AFRICATIP in
Bamako, Mali, 22-23 February, 2005,
convened 60 participants from 15 African
countries and experts from the ILO and the
YEN Network, thereby bringing together
international, regional and national actors.
They explored strategies to better promote
youth employment in the various AGETIP
 programmes and evaluated components such
as training and more specific beneficiary
targeting to infuse their job creation with a
more integrated, long term and durable
perspective. In many countries, these
targeted programmes are instrumental in
promoting labour market attachment of
young people, and at the same time,
improving infrastructure. The meeting came
up with a series of recommendations for
national Agencies to follow. High-Level
Panel member and former Director-General
for the Senegalese AGETIP, Mr Magatte
Wade, made a joint presentation at the
meeting with YEN Secretary Steven Miller.
Rotary International
champions youth employment
Following a decision in 2004 by the Board
of Rotary International to encourage clubs to
offer professional support to youth who start
their own businesses and to support the
YEN, Rotary has increased its work on
youth employment:
- Rotary pilot projects are underway, in
partnership with the ILO, to assist local
Rotary Clubs in Mauritius, Mexico, and
Guatemala to design and implement
schemes to provide computer skills training
and on-the-job work attachments to young
people with disabilities.
- Rotary is exploring the potential role for
Rotarians across the world to become
mentors, trustees and funders for local youth
entrepreneurship schemes, based on a model
developed between the ILO and Youth
Business International (YBI) in the
Philippines - the Philippine Youth Business
Foundation.
- Rotary chapters are lending the YEN a hand
in urging governments to submit progress
reports on the development of National
Action Plans on Youth Employment. (see
page 1)
- A young entrepreneur supported into
business by the Rotary Club of Ferney-
Voltaire (France) made a star appearance in
a curtain raiser video on youth employment
during the opening of the 7th ILO European
Regional Meeting, Budapest, 14-18
February 2005.
11
YES and YEN partner
in support of the
submission of National
Action Plans on youth
employment
YEN and YES are collaborating in order to
strengthen the substantive participation of
young people in the development and
implementation of National Action Plans in
YEN lead countries and beyond through the
in-country co-operation of their affiliates
and partners.
http://www.yesweb.org/docs/YES-YEN.pdf
Following a successful YES Summit in Vera
Cruz, Mexico in October 2004, which the
YEN participated in, the Government of
Kenya has agreed to host YES 2006 in
Nairobi in October of 2006 with the support
of UN Habitat.
UN-HABITAT engagement with
youth
At UN-HABITATs Governing Council (4-8
April 2005) the draft report "UN-HABITAT
and Youth: Strategy for Enhanced
Engagement" was discussed.
Twelve young people participated in the
discussions and will help to form a
committee that will advise the Agency on
the formation of its interim youth
consultative mechanism. This youth group
also met for a youth forum on 3-4 April to
generate inputs into the Governing Council
Agenda.
News from Youth
IUSY Statement of Support for
More and Better Jobs for Young
People
At its presidium meeting in Porto Alegre,
Brazil 22 – 25 January 2005 the
International Union of Socialist Youth
(IUSY), agreed a statement on youth
employment. In this statement IUSY, a
member organization of the YENs Youth
Consultative Group, urged governments to
establish binding strategies to fight youth
unemployment and informal work,
underlining that governments have,
regardless of levels of economic
development, a responsibility to guarantee
each young person access to decent work.
IUSY also welcomed the planned discussion
item on youth employment during the June
International Labor Conference.
Youth Employment Spark Project
launched in the Philippines
The Youth Spark Awards Ceremony was
held 7 February 2005 at the ILO Manila
Auditorium where Mr. Werner Blenk, the
ILO Subregional Director for South-East
Asia and the Pacific, delivered opening
remarks, along with National Youth
Commission Chairman Bam Aquino and
Robert Sagaun, Executive Director
Philippine Resources for Sustainable
Development.
The Youth Employment Spark is an
entrepreneurship scheme supported by the
Dutch National Youth Council (DNYC)
which is helping youth in Guyana, the
Netherlands, the Philippines, South Africa,
and Turkey to simultaneously start their own
business under the guidance of a youth
organisation and a mentor from the business
community.
Through raising awareness and international
cooperation, the project will spark new
youth employment projects, partnerships,
and funding opportunities.
Youth participation in South Asian
conference of youth organizations
Indian Committee of Youth Organizations
(ICYO) with World Bank support organized
a ‘South Asian Conference of Youth
Organizations’ from 16-18 March 2005 in
New Delhi to discuss and formulate the plan
of action for capacity building of youth
serving NGOs.
ICYO invited 60 “Youth Leaders” from
South Asian Countries in the Conference.
HIV/AIDS and risky behaviors,
employment, peace and conflict prevention
and related issues where discussed in the
Conference.
12
ICYO functions as an umbrella organization
of youth NGOs in India. Its family consists
of over 354 organizations spread in 122
districts of 22 states in India.
icyo@icyo-india.org
Scouts partner with ILO
on the issue of child
labour.
The World Organization of the Scout
Movement (WOSM) and the ILO are
cooperating to increase children's
participation and youth empowerment to
eliminate child labour through the
participation of the Scouts in the
International Programme on the Elimination
of Child Labour (ILO/IPEC).
The ILO and the Scout Movement will
promote joint activities to equip young
people with knowledge and understanding
of globalization, global interdependence and
solidarity, and to appreciate the meaning of
responsibility, respect and commitment.
The ILO set of core labour standards
including the right to freedom of association
and collective bargaining, the elimination of
forced or compulsory labour, the elimination
of worst forms of child labour, and equal of
opportunity and treatment at work, will be
promoted by the Scouts in their educational
programmes.
YouthBank scheme gains momentum in
the UK
YouthBank is a UK-wide grantmaking
initiative run by young people for young
people. Local YouthBanks provide small
grants to projects led by young people that
are of benefit to the community and the
young people taking part.
Young people themselves make the
decisions through a Board of young people
about how local YouthBanks are managed
and run. The board also direct the UK-wide
programme.
As well as giving out grants, YouthBank
supports and trains young people to enable
them, through grantmaking and related
activities, to benefit other young people and
the community, as well as themselves
Global Youth Service Day (April 15-17,
2005)
Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) is an
annual global event led by Youth Service
America with the Global Youth Action
Network. The goals of GYSD are: to build
the capacity of organizations to promote
youth participation, service, and learning; to
educate the public, the media, and policy-
makers about the year-round contributions
of youth around the world; to mobilize
youth and adults to meet the needs of their
communities through volunteering; and to
share effective practices in youth services
and civic engagement.
Media / Press activities
ILO Director-General Juan Somavia was
interviewed by NHK World Radio (Japan)
on youth employment whilst attending the
symposium Globalization and the Future of
Youth in Asia (Tokyo, December 2004)
Interview with ILO Brazil Director Armand
Pereira by UNDP Brazil on the ILOs role
and activities in the country.
Justin Sykes of the YEN Secretariat was
interviewed by the World Association of
Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) for
the March 2005 edition of their global
publication ‘Our World News’ which will be
online shortly at:
http://www.wagggsworld.org
Press round up
Rules on young workers
Straits Times (Singapore) 21/01/2005
Global youth jobless rate a warning: ILO
The Financial Express (India) 27/01/2005
Speakers in round-table discussion on
employment stress urgent need - to develop
active national policies focusing on youth
i-Newswire.com (Int.) 11/02/2005
Youth to learn principles of business with
experts of International Labour Organisation
Turan Info Agency (Azerbaijan) 03/03/2005
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Acehnese children to be trained in practical skills
Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies
10/03/2005
Career breakthrough Mentoring helps our young
people
Liverpool Leader (UK) 23/03/2005
Calendar
2 to 4 May 2005: Youth Employment, Trends,
Polices and New Approaches,
Badboll, Germany
21-22 May 2005: YEN High-Level Panel
Meeting, Beijing, China
12 to 16 May 2005: Latin America and
Caribbean Youth Leadership Summit, Office of
Sport for Development and Peace, Belo
Horizonte, Brazil
12 to 16 May 2005: Pacific Youth MDG
Summit - UNDP Samoa
31 May – 16 June 2005: International Labour
Conference (including discussion on Youth
Employment)
7 – 10 June 2005: Instituto Ethos, 2005
International Conference - Business and Social
Responsibility. São Paulo, Brazil
6-8 July 2005: G8 Summit, Gleneagles,
Scotland
30 July - 08 August 2005: 3rd World Youth
Congress, Stirling, Scotland.
September 2005: ILO Subregional Office for
Southern Africa (Harare) Tripartite Meeting on
Youth Employment (TBC)
14-16 September 2005: Five-Year Review of
the Millennium Declaration by the UN General
Assembly, New York
October 28 – 1 November 2005 - African
Development Forum V: Economic Commission
for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
6 October 2005: "Evaluation of the World
Programme of Action for Youth" UN
Headquarters, New York.
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