Federal Government of Somalia and United Nations joint programme on youth employment

This Joint FGS-UN Programme aims to capitalise on recent security, governance and reconciliation achievements by expanding employment opportunities for young men and women, mainly in newly recovered areas. The programme recognizes the centrality of youth in fostering stability in the country and outlines specific interventions that can be taken within the next 24 months to begin to generate decent work opportunities for young people that will serve as positive alternatives to participation in violence and conflict. This will also contribute to the revitalization of the local economy. The programme will tackle youth at risk, unemployed and underemployed youth. The employment generating interventions from this programme also aim to augment the credibility of the FGS and build trust and confidence in local governance and security sector institutions while providing immediate peace dividends to vulnerable sub-sections of the population. As encouraged in the New Deal Compact, this joint youth employment programme is a frontline intervention of the FGS to achieve rapid results under Peace and State-building Goal (PSG) 4 (Economic Foundations), which identifies youth employment through job creation and skills development as one of the most important priority projects over the next two years. Creating growth and job opportunities are a crucial part of development assistance and Somalia is in urgent need of decent employment and income generation opportunities. The private sector is responsible for 90 percent of jobs in developing countries, making it an essential partner in the fight against poverty and the engine of innovation, investment and growth. There are many obstacles which stand in the way of private sector development, the mains ones being: unfavourable investment climate, infrastructure shortages, lack of access to finance, lack of skills development opportunities and weak linkages between supply and distribution chains. Tackling such constraints will create job opportunities for young Somali men and women. Therefore, the FGS, with the support of UN agencies, will undertake the following interventions in newly recovered areas and other government priority areas over the next 24 months. The programme will initially be tailored for the first 24 months as per the Compact deadline (see also Table 1): • 1: Improved long-term potential for growth, productivity and employment of at least three value chains in the agriculture, fisheries and livestock sector. • 2: Equip 10,000 youth with basic literacy, numeracy and life-skills and sector-specific vocational and business training to enhance their employability to access sustainable job opportunities in sectors with high growth and employment potential. • 3: Create 30,000 short-term jobs created through cash-for-work projects to rehabilitate productive infrastructure in target locations, mainly in newly recovered areas.

Project symbol

SOM/15/01/UND

Admin unit

CO-Addis Ababa

Start date

21/08/2015

End date

30/04/2020

Total allocation

4636198

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

4615689

Development Partners

Multi Partner Trust Fund Office, UNDP

Country/Countries

Somalia

Outcomes

Outcome 5: Skills and lifelong learning to facilitate access to and transitions in the labour market