Youth Employment and Urban Renewal

1. Youth Employment and Urban Renewal UN-HABITAT Discussion paper for Expert Group meeting

2. Youth Employment and Urban Renewal • UN Millennium Declaration: “to have achieved by 2020, a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.” • Youth issues are central to solving urbanization problems of the developing world • highest rate of unemployment • most vulnerable to social depredations

3. Challenges to Youth Employment • Uncertain/declining economies • Lack of skills among youth • Diminished capacity of public sector to cater to youth employment • Sustainability in self-employment in the youth sector • Lack of recognition of youth as a resource

4. Opportunities for youth employment • Public Sector: • hire youth in public administration or for public works • providing vital social services – already active in CSOs • Globalization and world market expansion: Municipalities can be pro-active in attracting global industries • Informal sector expansion

5. Opportunities for youth employment • Inter-sectoral Partnerships • incentives to private sector to hire youth • engage with CSOs on strategies to address urban youth unemployment • linkages between civil society and the private sector in commercial ventures eg. communication services

6. UN-Habitat & Urban Renewal • Strategic vision 2003 • The city as an organizing agent for national development • urban poverty & slums: not just about local improvement but of region-wide and national development policy • YEN priorities directly address mandate: • to improve the lives of the urban poor, & to foster sustainable urban development

7. UN-Habitat & Urban Renewal • New UN-HABITAT youth strategy • mainstreaming youth in all of the Agency’s programmes • enhancing engagement of youth in national and local governance processes • inclusion of a youth focus in urban renewal, including urban youth employment

8. An Employment Strategy for Urban Youth • Local Authority Capacity Development • ensure appreciation of urgency to address urban youth unemployment in planning urban development • training programmes: improve knowledge, skills and attitudes of local government & civil society for slum dwellers • Youth entrepreneurship • Build marketable skills to tap natural creativity and innovation of young people

9. An Employment Strategy for Urban Youth • Develop partnerships and linkages • Partners’ involvement of youth in mainstream economic activity • linkages between the formal and informal sector • partnering to encourage and enable employment of young graduates • provide models of attachment/internship strategies to encourage national and municipal levels

10. An Employment Strategy for Urban Youth • Promote Information and Communication Technologies • ICT revolution has by-passed the poorer urban population • Promote ICT access in slums as a win-win strategy for youth employment • increased social awareness, educational opportunities, access to employment information • high quality jobs within the slums themselves

11. An Employment Strategy for Urban Youth • Youth employment support services • identify pilot initiatives to support governments in urban youth employment endeavours • One-stop youth information resource centres An Employment Strategy for Urban Youth • best practices database of youth employment initiatives at the local, national, regional and global levels