Why We Partnered

Founded in 1990, the International Youth Foundation (IYF) is a global leader in youth development focused on education, employment, and citizenship. IYF operates on the belief that young people who are educated, productive, and engaged citizens can solve the world’s toughest problems. Its youth employability model is known for its comprehensive and market-driven training of youth, capacity-building of local partners, and strong alliances with government ministries, companies, NGOs and youth leaders. IYF currently operates in 78 countries worldwide.

IYF is expanding its programming in Africa, and one of the strongest demonstrations of its youth employability model on the African continent is in Egypt. At least 90 percent of Egypt’s unemployed are between 15 and 29 years of age, despite the fact that this generation of youth is the best educated in the country’s history. Moreover, the unemployment rate among young women is three times that of young men and more than five times the overall jobless rate. Disadvantaged youth in Egypt, particularly young women, do not have access to relevant training to obtain jobs in the private sector, and are often forced into low-skill jobs in the informal economy.

The partnership between IYF and The MasterCard Foundation will enable IYF to broaden its work in Egypt and further support and empower economically disadvantaged youth. The program, which is grounded in local partnerships, will work with local implementing partners to conduct an assessment of labour-market demands and youth needs. It will then select strong local organizations, working closely with partners from across the public, private and civil society sectors, to deliver IYF’s integrated employability and entrepreneurship training to youth. These local organizations will also facilitate job placements and access to finance to support the employability and entrepreneurship track of targeted youth.

Anticipated Impact

• Provide integrated training and job placement services to 10,000 unemployed youth between the ages of 15 and 29, fifty percent of whom will be young women.
• Enable 65 percent of youth trained entering the job market to find employment or become self-employed, and an additional 15 percent to return to school.
• Document and disseminate lessons learned to adapt the model for scaling up in additional African countries.