DOHA: More than 200 leaders from academia, government, industry and civil society participated in the Solutions4Work international conference convened by the World Bank and sponsored and supported by Silatech.
The three-day forum in Istanbul discussed advances in youth employment interventions and plan steps towards further progress on the issue.
At 29 percent, the youth unemployment rate in the Arab world is the highest in any region in the world.
“While I acknowledge the importance of putting right policies in place to seize the demographic gift now available to the Middle East and North Africa, I am increasingly aware that we cannot depend on top-down approaches to solve the youth employment challenge. Rather, I have come to realise that our best chances for resolving economic challenges facing young people come from youth and grassroots efforts of civil society and social enterprises to generate and test new solutions,” said Dr Tarik M Yousef, Silatech CEO.
Silatech is a regional social initiative focused on improving employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people in the Arab world.
Since its founding in 2008, Silatech has financed over 78,000 youth-owned businesses, created or sustained over 103,000 jobs and trained over 2350 youth-focused NGO staff.
It has programmes in 16 Arab countries.
As part of its role in the conference, Silatech organised two expert sessions. Moderated by Paul Dyer, Knowledge Programme Manager, Silatech, ‘Tools for Evaluation and Evidence’ brought together leading international experts to discuss the most effective tools for evaluating and measuring the impact of youth livelihood interventions.
Justin Sykes, Director, Microenterprise, Silatech, moderated ‘Supporting Young Micro and Small Entrepreneurs’, which explored solutions to provide budding entrepreneurs with access to financing, training and mentorship to improve their chances for success.
The conference was part of an annual series of events under the Global Partnership for Youth Employment, a consortium of international organisations to build and disseminate evidence on youth employment results and effective programmes to help address challenges facing young people in their transition to work.
The Peninsula
