DC Conference Tackles Youth Unemployment: Youth Leaders Join the Dialogue

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"The best thing you can say to a young person is that we trust you," says Guillermo Asiain, a youth leader from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, who opened up the International Youth  Foundation's Conferenece in DC yesterday. "I had to be here so that I could talk to all of you about how to make a difference in young people's lives." He did more than set the tone—and underscore key themes of the conference—and introduce the speakers of the first panel. Guillermo was also a powerful and inspiring reminder of why top leaders from DC and across Latin America and the Caribbean will spend the next two days crowded  in a large room at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The collective challenge: to share their knowledge and expertise about successful youth employment strategies and programs so that they can be scaled up ... and more young people like Guillermo can get decent jobs and have a voice in society.

We were all reminded by IYF's President and CEO, Bill Reese, of what's at stake here: a huge payoff and return on investments for the next 50 years if we invest in this younger generation now and ensure they have the skills and opportunities to be successful in the workplace and in the community. If they are successful, then their children, in turn, have a far better chance of being connected and moving forward. The flip side, of course, is that if we don't get it right, then we have another generation of unemployed, unhealthy, frustrated citizens who have little hope and are unable to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Pointing out that IYF's entra21 program has been working for 10 years now on how to better address these issues ... he pointed to the rich and deep well of knowledge—about successes and also lessons learned—that has accumulated that can now be used to improve the effectiveness and sustainability and scaling up of these efforts in the years ahead. Mark Lopes, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Latin America at USAID, underscored the importance of public private partnerships to address these difficult issues ... as well as a key ingredient in any successful program, its close ties to the local community and local players. "Given the tight budgets we are facing this year," he said, "we need to focus on where we can have the greatest impact."  And that, he says, is when we work together.

Nancy Lee, the General Manager of the Multilateral Investment Fund, which has provided such critical support for IYF's entra21 program in Latin America and the Caribbean, reminded us as well that youth development was not an obvious choice for the agenda to focus on ... but agreed that it has been a very far-sighted and right decision. She also said that the MIF has not only been successful in benefiting 100,000 young people in 20 countries over the past few years ... but has also been able to leverage some $70 million in addition to their own support.  While underscoring the successes ... she admitted to mistakes and missteps... and many lessons learned in the process. "It's not easy to work in these partnerships, but we are committed to do that and as a result have achieved scale in the region."

They day was full of insights and learnings from the participants and panelists ... and lively exchanges about what was working in youth employment programs, and what was more difficult.  But I admit I was particularly happy to see Guillermo and another youth leader from Jamaica, Maxsalia Salmon, get up to give their perspectives on the day's discussions. They had so much positive energy ... but also their own wisdom. We all appreciated Guillermo's closing advice to us ... that he learned from his sports coach:  "Play smart; play hard; but play together."  Well done!

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youth leadership youth unemployment mif event youth voices