In every region of the world, youth face difficulty entering the labor market, however particular challenges face youth in the Middle East and North Africa, which has the highest concentration of unemployed young people. Save the Children has been working on different models that look at youth employment/livelihoods/entrepreneurship since 2006, work which has informed the Rural Youth Livelihood Program (RYL), a pilot program launched in 2008 as part of an integrated program targeting adolescents who are both in and out of school in Egypt.

The goal of the Rural Youth Livelihoods Program (RYL) is to equip adolescents in rural Egypt to successfully navigate the transition to work by:

• imparting effective strategies to generate and maintain means of living,
• enhancing youth well-being and ability to plan for their futures, and
• improve youths’ ability to withstand crises and shocks.

In order to achieve this goal the project has the following employment and enterprise development objectives for 2008:

• Build the assets and competencies of 400 young people to make informed choices about market relevant work opportunities.
• Enable 400 young people to map and manage resources available to them including market information and income from subsistence activities.
• Support 400 young people realize the potential of using financial services for themselves or others in their households to invest in skills building or grow a business

SEEP PLP for Youth and Workforce Development

Tamer Kirolos
Deputy Country Director for Programs
tkirolos@savechildren.org