ROUNDTABLE: YOUTH EMPLOYMENT IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD: EXPLORING POLICY SOLUTIONS TO EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE

Organized by the TASC Platform and World YMCA; featuring the Aspen Institute and International Youth Foundation

The roundtable will bring together actors at the local, national, and international levels to explore policies and policy approaches for youth empowerment.

The Covid-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on young people’s livelihoods and employment prospects. There is a real risk of a lost generation. 

However, with governments focused on defeating the pandemic, youth employment has fallen lower on the global political agenda. This needs to change. There is an urgent need for a global political response to youth employment in a post-pandemic world. 

In line response to this challenge, the World Alliance of YMCAs and the TASC Platform are joining forces to bring together actors at the local, national, and international levels to explore policies and policy approaches for youth empowerment. 

The discussion aims to address:

• how youth employment programs on the ground are benefiting from an understanding of local context and active involvement of young people in their design; 

• how systemic barriers could be overcome to help these insights and engagement approaches inform policy and practice at national and international levels;

• what knowledge gaps exist and what possible information exchange, research and dialogue could inform a paradigm shift in government approaches to policies and programming on youth economic empowerment. 

The roundtable will take place at YMCA’s Youth-Led Solutions Summit on the Future of Work (7-9 June 2021). This three-day virtual event will cross time zones to bring together over 1000 global voices from youth organizations, corporations, public agencies, international organizations, academia and research groups. Its aim is to empower young people to identify their unique employment pathway in a world of work in transformation, and to show them the skills they need to thrive.  

PARTICIPANTS

Moderator:

• Cédric Dupont, President of Executive Education and Professor of International Relations/Political Science at the Graduate Institute, Geneva; Co-Chair of the TASC Platform

Speakers:

• Kee Beom Kim, Macroeconomic and Employment Policies Specialist, ILO

• Mirjam Horstmeier, Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

• John Lindsay, Senior Technical Advisor, Economic Opportunity, International Youth Foundation

• Colin MacFarlane, National Programme Manager, YMCA Scotland; Lead, Community of Impact on Youth Employment and Opportunity, World YMCA 

• Jamie McAuliffe, Senior Fellow, Founding Director of The Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN), Aspen Institute

• Urmila Sarkar, Senior Adviser on Planning and Programmes for Generation Unlimited, UNICEF, Generation Unlimited

To learn more about the TASC Platform and engage with our multi-stakeholder network become a member of the TASC Community.