Context:
Syria has a population of 18.5 million and GDP US$40.4 billion. While unemployment rate is 14.3%, unemployment among female youth (33%), is much higher than that among male youth (11.1%). The average educational attainment is 6.2 school years in Syria where the adjusted net enrolment rate for upper secondary education reached 24.5% in 2013.
This project is part of UNFPA’s innovation fund, supported by the Government of Denmark, and done in collaboration with seven local NGOs. The project’s mission is to educate and empower youth (22-30 years old) and provide them with skills to ensure development, growth, and rebuilding of communities affected by conflict.
Implementation of programme/ initiative:
The project is implemented by UNFPA and aims at providing Syrian youth with significant business, leadership, and entrepreneurship skills; and at directly linking them to income-generating opportunities.
Main challenges:
- N/A.
Results achieved:
28 Syrian tech-savvy displaced youth (71.5% females) were selected from a pool of 200 applicants from diverse ethnic groups and regions to participate in the three-week training. At the end of the training, 23 projects were presented to a panel of experts, and 17 of them were selected for further development. After six months of the training, nine of the youth businesses were fully up and running.
Moving Forward:
- N/A.
Replicability:
Additional entrepreneurship boot camps were held in Homs and Tartous.
References:
AHDR, 2016
World Bank, 2016
International Labor Organization, 2016
Project Details
Date: October 10, 2017