2012

1. Arab Youth Development Network The MENA Region has the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. 100M, or 30% of the population are between the ages of 15 and 29 (Silatech, 2010 ). Egypt Jordan Palestinian Territories Iraq Lebanon Yemen Morocco Tunisia Libya What the Middle East lacks is channels that connect young people with promising long term opportunities (American University of Beirut). 2012

2. Challenges facing young people in MENA • Short term job creation packages can do more harm than good if not linked to lasting employment. • Youth Policy makersrarely engage young people in decisions. • Institutional Reform: trade reform won’t benefit young people unless institutional structures stop favouring older generations. • Access to Financial Services: Lending institutions incorrectly perceive young people as risky, and access to building productive assets (eg. savings) is very low in formal institutions. • Few opportunities for youth as civic actors during the gap between education and job: Civic opportunities can increase economic prospects. • The Education/Skills-Market mis-match: education systems are not preparing youth for today’s labor market, and career counselling is virtually non-existent in most countries. • Social and Cultural Norms that create barriers to access opportunities, particularly for young women.

3. The Youth Network Theory of Change Bridging the gap to Financial Services ( Unlocking finance will support young people to become productive adults) Young people are often excluded from participation in financial services (savings, credit), which hinders their ability to build assets for planning a future (business development, family, education). This is not only about access to capital, but how to use it wisely (financial literacy). YDSN will work with Silatech to support bridging this gap, including research that will challenge financial institutions to develop more youth accessible, friendly products. Workforce Development – Skills, Mentoring and Education (Connected services will address the education/ skills - market mismatch) Young people need relevant education and lifeskills to advance in the workplace. This requires improvement of the quality of education (relevant curriculum, teaching approach) that meets market demand and encourages private sector investment in human resources, e.g. careers as much as jobs. Education (formal and non-formal) must be connected to apprenticeships, internships, career counselling. • Engagement in Civil Society • (Civic participation improves economic participation) • Civic engagement programmes can enable young people to be more active in their communities and to engage with institutions and government. There is some evidence globally that this experience helps youth become more politically, socially and economically active through acquisition of important life skills.

4. The Youth Network Theory of Change Policy Framework (Institutional policy can improve opportunities for youth) YDSN will advocate with Governments to develop youth friendly policies to expand youth opportunities for engagement: e.g. labour laws, work environment/conditions, female-friendly policies, financial services (central bank). YDSN will assess and advise government and private sector on skills programmes, education reform, youth engagement in civil society. The Social Environment (Social, cultural factors that affect young people’s engagement in the workplace) Shifting youth and parental attitudes and expectations about what is acceptable work, particularly for young women, such as marriage practices/status, addressing gendered division of labour will improve young people’s job prospects and quality of jobs.

5. The Network Vision Adedicated centre of excellence, driving best practices and innovation. The Network will serve as a platform and think-tank providing expertise and capacity to support government, private sector and national/community based organizations in more effective engagement with youth. Through partnerships it will support coordination of regional efforts to achieve quality youth programming at scale.

6. The YDSN Concept • Knowledge Hub • Collaborate with youth and research partners to collect and analyze data to develop an understanding of issues facing Arab youth • Provide links to global initiatives for Arab youth. • Identify, promote and support innovations to scale up. • Share knowledge and expertise across program sectors through the online forum. • Knowledge management to assist national, regional and country-level strategic program planning. • Provide evidence-based support policy reform with the Arab League and Governments. • Publishing and communicating successes and lessons learned from program implementation to improve programming. MENAs Youth challenges can not be met with stand alone programmes Or by private sector, NGOs or government’s working alone. It needs partnerships. • Implementation Support • Supporting strategic regional and country-level development • Provision of internal and external technical assistance in youth development from a roster of technical experts • Provision of technical assistance in program design, monitoring and evaluation • Supporting knowledge management (capturing and sharing knowledge) from regional and country-level programs and projects. • Grants for collaborative initiatives, through a youth fund • Regional Partnerships • Develop multi- sector alliances with partners (NGOs, private sector) to address youth needs on areas such as access to finance, youth employment training and skills • Work with regional partners, such as Silatech, to create more choices and opportunities for young people. • Develop targeted action plan with League of Arab States for advocacy and awareness raising on youth issues for change

7. YDSN Deliverables • Launch: TheArab Youth Network launches in Amman in April 2013 with the online knowledge hub and a two day youth forum convening 100 young people to speak directly to 50 donor, government, private sector and civil society organizations. • Support the Arab League with a Regional Youth Strategy: YDSN will support the Arab League prepare a strategy on youth employment. This could provide a strong foundation for further collaborative work with individual governments on youth policy. • Work with governments to develop their youth policies: A number of governments in the region have requested support with developing youth strategies. A number are experimenting with youth parliaments. YDSN will provide technical advice with strategy development and share best practice. • Assess and design Private Sector and NGO Programmes: The YDSN will offer support to private sector and NGO organisations wanting assessment or design support with their youth programmes. This will enable the YDSN to catalogue best practice examples. • Research: In partnership with the AUB Youth Research Programme, YDSN will review existing literature and data and undertake primary data collection across Arab countries. An annual report will be published outlining progress across the five priority themes.

8. How will we work together with our partners? YDSN will foster collaborative and innovative partnership models. Donors Governments Partnering in consortia and coalitions to multiply impact and funding. Enabling donors to evaluate progress and invest in strategic initiatives. Youth Improving use of research and evidence in design and monitoring of youth interventions. Jointly designing programs to leverage private sector and NGO expertise and finance to deliver on shared social objectives. Academia Corporations And Banks NGOs Engaging youth to design and execute innovative ideas that are responsive to their needs Provide advisory services and showcase innovative, evidence-based interventions for governments to execute at scale

9. Potential/Interested Partners • Private Sector • Pepsi-Co • Accenture • Shell • Manpower • Gallup • Intel • Al Ali • Foundations • Silatech • Emirates Foundation • NGOs • INJAZ • AlashanekyaBalady • Oasis 500 • Young EntrepreneursAssociation Jordan • Global Partners • UN Inter-agency network on Youth Development • World Bank Global) Public-Private Partnership for Youth Investment • Youth Employment Network • Youth Business International • Interested Donors • Italy • US • Canada • Norway • Sweden • Finland • World Bank • Qatar • Research • AUB – Youth in the Arab World Programme, • AUC – Social Research Centre • Etijah - youth and development consultancy • British Council • Carnegie Beirut Centre • Chatham House

10. Case Study: Private Sector Partnership with Pepsico • PepsiCo has committed to work with the YDSN in variety of ways illustrated below, private sector partners could be invited to partner with the YDSN on any: • Corporate expertise: support to develop the YDSN communication strategy and tools e.g. the online knowledge hub. • Financial support to youth groups to implement project innovations. • Direct training and employment: Provide young people on the network with skills, training and employment. • Outreach to young people: Organize youth events and interactive webinars to support youth voices and leadership. • Contributing best practice experience: YDSN will assess PepsiCo youth related CSR projects and highlight best practice in implementation and results to be shared with other private sector companies as a model.

11. Thank you