Youth empowerment through social innovation and entrepreneurship has incredible potential to solve problems at a grassroots level if youth are given robust platforms to connect and act.
Currently, half of the world’s population is under the age of 30, with 90 percent of this age group living in emerging and developing economies and 50 percent unemployed or working and living in poverty. The aspirations and needs of young people, and their ability to meet their full potential, remain largely unmet due to stagnating economic growth and limited opportunities for advancement. Despite the odds being stacked against them, we know that when youth are empowered, development outcomes improve.
Youth are an indispensable yet underutilized force in tackling global poverty and inequality. Their energy, passion, and courage to challenge the status quo are needed to identify and address complex global problems, and their insights are worthy of attention and investment. The global development community should serve as champions and provide stronger ecosystems of support for those insights to materialize into effective development solutions. Through our projects and partnerships, like the UNLEASH Global Innovation Lab that focuses on enabling social entrepreneurship, we at Chemonics put youth in the driver’s seat so they can decide how to improve their own environments. By equipping them with the skills, resources, and networks they need to solve problems in their communities, and ensuring they are empowered to lead the process, we have seen youth support job creation, contribute to economic growth, and much more.
How can funders and partners create more effective pathways to empower youth? Here are three lessons we’ve noted
- Create inclusive opportunities for youth to collaborate and build networks
- Equip youth with practical skills and tools to practice innovation
- Develop supportive programs that target early stage ventures
Youth empowerment through social innovation and entrepreneurship has incredible potential to solve problems at a grassroots level if youth are given robust platforms to connect and act. More than 200 youth teams so far have applied to 75 slots in the follow-on UNLEASH+ program since its launch last year. Youth need more partners, platforms, and ecosystems that will provide comprehensive support to early-stage ventures to help them make the leap from ideation to scale.