EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PROFILES OF OAS TECHNICAL COOPERATION ON YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND MICROENTERPRISE

OBJECTIVES:

To increase youth employment and youth entrepreneurship by:

1. Developing regionally integrated national strategies to combat youth poverty through the promotion of youth business creation, employment related education, and microcredit.
   
2. Increasing the capacity of existing programs to better serve youth, and to expand their reach through improved management practices, program planning, program evaluation and fund-raising.
   
3. Assisting in the development of additional support for youth employment/entrepreneurship, including a social investment trust fund to provide long term financing and technical support for education, social development and poverty eradication.

DESCRIPTION:

The project consists of two primary components:

1. Integrated national strategies to combat youth poverty:
   This component involves:
   
   • Identifying the full array of key program elements needed to successfully increase youth enterprise development and youth employment.
     
   • Identifying current gaps in services and developing strategies to efficiently build a comprehensive service delivery system.
     
   • Securing resources to implement additional program elements.
     
   • Documenting exemplary program models in OAS Member States in the Americas and the Caribbean, and increasing technical cooperation across the Hemisphere, to enhance the youth employment and enterprise development services system in each member state.
     
2. Increased national and regional capacity to plan and manage projects through improved management practices, program planning, program evaluation and fund-raising.

   This component will increase the management effectiveness and sustainability of youth enterprise and employment programs by increasing the skills of program operators and of government oversight bodies. Training and technical cooperation will be undertaken to strengthen the long-term management capabilities of these organizations at both the regional and national levels in the areas of strategic planning, fund-raising, program partnerships, and project / organizational development.