Chapter 1.
INTRODUCTION
This report presents the results of the evaluation of UNDP support to youth economic empowerment. Defined as the capacity of young women and men to participate in, contribute to and benefit from inclusive growth and development processes,1 youth economic empowerment is an area of long-standing engagement for UNDP. This support was crucial to the broader United Nations system-wide engagement in the decade following the International Year of Youth (2010/2011). This is the first comprehensive evaluation to gather and analyse the UNDP contribution to youth economic empowerment, decent work2 and livelihood creation for youth in programme countries.
1.1 YOUTH, LABOUR AND EMPOWERMENT: A GENERATION AT RISK This section presents the main challenges youth face to achieve economic empowerment, including challenges introduced or intensified by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the widely acknowledged mismatch between what educational systems teach and what labour markets require. The world currently has the largest youth population ever. As of 2019, youth – or women and men between 15 and 24 years old3,4 – accounted for 1.2 billion (16 percent) of the population globally, with a projected growth to 1.3 billion by 2030.5 While youth make up a relatively small share of the population in developed countries, in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia youth comprise nearly 20 percent of the total population.6 Youth population growth challenges the distribution of limited resources but also presents opportunities for demographic dividends, higher productivity and economic growth.7 Young people are more economically vulnerable and marginalized than adults. Across countries, a sizeable share of youth are prevented from accessing education and job opportunities due to structural
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Adapted from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines decent employment as “work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment”. Decent work is widely acknowledged as a driver of poverty reduction. Age classification approved by the United Nations General Assembly. This definition is used by UNDP for all statistical purposes. Programmatically and depending on context, UNDP may extend the age range to 30 or 35 years to ensure that programming remains responsive to the needs of young adults. There is no consensus on the definition of youth. The United Nations defines youth as individuals aged between 15 and 24 years while at the same time defining those under 18 as “children” under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. For other international organizations, such as the African Development Bank, the definition is based on the International Conference of Labour Statisticians and extends the category to encompass 15-to-35-year-olds. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). World Population Prospects 2019: Volume II: Demographic Profiles. In other developing regions, the proportion of youth is declining, though it remains sizeable, e.g., Latin America and the Caribbean (17 percent) and Western Asia (17 percent). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2018). World Youth Report: Youth and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. “Demographic dividend”, as defined by the United Nations Population Fund, is “the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population is larger than the non-working-age share of the population”.
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUC TION
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