Day 2 - Wednesday, May 17

8:30 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. 

Breakfast Sessions

 

Maximizing Youth Opportunity for a Just Transition

 

Track: Global Workforce 

 

Room: Fenton

​

Organization(s): Abt Associates and ADP

 

The global renewable energy sector could generate as many as 24 million primarily private sector jobs by 2030, and 42 million jobs by 2050. The solar sector has the potential to create 20 million jobs to the global economy, while 6 million could be added by the circular economy, and electric vehicles could bring another 10 million. Climate-smart agriculture is increasing yields and earnings and stimulating new businesses while promoting more resilient livelihoods and communities. This promise offers a critical path from economic crisis to recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and impact of unrelenting climate change. In both the near and longer-term, green, resilient, climate-smart industries have the potential to help accelerate re-employment, create jobs, and stimulate growth, especially in developing and emerging economies looking to create diversified opportunities for larger numbers of new or returning labor market entrants and small business owners—many of whom will – or could- be youth. 
 

Join us for a research-informed, solution-oriented session during which we’ll ask and answer the obvious and not so obvious questions: what are the opportunities? What do youth need to enter, be successful, and reach their aspirations in the green economy? How can the private sector best be engaged? What are the best practices?

 

Speakers: 

Farai Mubaiwa, Strategy Manager, Accenture

 

Nicole Goldin, Global Head - Inclusion Growth, Abt Associates

​

Shure Otgonsuren, Gender and Community Engagement Lead, USAID’s Mongolia Energy Governance Activity

​

Dan Baker, Growth Markets Managing Director, Accenture Development Partnerships

 

Incorporating Positive Youth Development into Youth Career Planning and Professional Development: Case Studies from Iraq and Yemen

 

Track: Global Workforce

 

Room: Spring
 

Organization(s): IREX and EFE

​

Though youth unemployment is a critical global challenge, youth are often excluded from design discussions for programs focused on their own career and professional development. Donors, implementers, governments, and employers frequently craft solutions for youth and deliver them to youth. During this session, EFE and IREX will present a tool that helps stakeholders follow a positive youth development approach and understand ways to put youth in the forefront of the design and implementation of career and professional development programming. EFE and IREX will employ case studies from Yemen and Iraq to highlight how a PYD approach can empower youth to be innovative solution makers for themselves and their communities. Session participants will then engage in a group problem solving session on how to employ the tool to effectively incorporate a PYD approach into different types of programs focused on youth economic opportunities.

​

Speakers: 

Sarah Little- Director of Programs and Business Development, Education for Employment (EFE)

 

Syako Shekho- Senior Program Officer, IREX 

​

Ameen Al-Qadri- Chief Executive Officer, Education for Employment (EFE)- Yemen 

​

Radwan El-Feel- Youth Alumnus, Education for Employment (EFE)- Yemen

​

Practical Research Methodologies to Engage Youth Across the Project Lifecycle

​

Track: Global Workforce

​

Room: Ellsworth

 

Organization(s): ACDI/VOCA and Tanager International

​

How can practitioners leverage innovative research methodologies to involve youth in research processes ensuring that the findings are highly relevant to the targeted youth? How can these methods be utilized throughout the life of a project? This session will draw on experiences from: 
 

• Overlaying GIS data with Youth-Led Mapping methods to identify hot spots for violence and safe spaces for diverse youth in Colombia. The data harvested at project start-up drove project decisions to address violence prevention. 

• Using Community-Based Systems Dynamics to increase inclusive education in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The findings drove decision making mid-way through a project, shaping intervention adaptation. 

• Using Social Network Analysis to better understand the degree of male and female youth participation in livestock sector networks in Bangladesh, including degrees of centrality, connectivity, and influence. This end-of-project analysis was key to informing the design of a follow-on project. 

 

Speakers: 

Jennifer Himmelstein, Director, Corporate Analysis and Technical Assurance, ACDI/VOCA

 
Laura Rangel, GIS Specialist, ACDI/VOCA Colombia

 

Mary Kate Cartmill, Research and Nutrition Specialist at Tanager International & Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellow 

​

9:15 a.m. -  9:30 a.m.

Break 

9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Green Jobs Plenary 

​

Defining, Creating, and Preparing Youth for Green Jobs: Leaders Speak Out

 

Room: Great Hall

​

Youth are clear – they want to create and be in green jobs. Businesses from services to manufacturing to agriculture are under pressure to adapt to and mitigate climate change. USAID and other donors co-invest in opportunities to support local leadership to confront the climate crisis, stimulate inclusive growth, and address youth unemployment. Implementing partners co-design programs based on local priorities, leadership, and institutions, informed with promising practices from global evidence. Join us for a dynamic panel of leaders who lay out how they are defining, creating, and preparing youth for green jobs. 

​

Organization: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

 

Speakers: 

Daniel Kayemba, Green Entrepreneur, Ecobrixs (tentative)

 

Jane Lowicki-Zucca, Senior Youth Advisor, USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security

 

Christina Kwauk PhD., Research Director at Unbounded Associates and Head of Climate 

 

Kathleen Vickland, Director, Youth and Workforce Development, Palladium 

​

Manuela Radelsboeck, Programme Specialist, UNICEF Generation Unlimited

10:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. 

Break

 

10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. 

Deep-Dive Breakout Sessions 

​

What Works to Drive Inclusive Youth Entrepreneurship: An Introduction to Inclusive Organizations, Programming, and Services, Including for Indigenous Young Entrepreneurs

​

Track: Self Employment

 

Room: Ellsworth

 

Organization(s): Youth Business International (YBI) and Accenture

​

YBI will present its inclusivity toolkit and show how the toolkit works as a framework in different contexts, including how it could be applied to programs and services for indigenous young entrepreneurs. YBI will describe how participants can start to take action toward becoming more inclusive. Participants will be introduced to a self-reflective process that guides them through understanding and defining inclusivity in their own context. The process avoids prescription and instead concentrates on ways to shape inclusivity to the needs of the local context. Participants will be guided through navigating this journey and shown how reflecting on, and making changes in, themselves first will enable them to better help those they wish to support. 

​

Speakers:

Anita Tiessen, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Youth Business International

 

Holly Atjecoutay, Director, Indigenous Entrepreneur Startup Program and Futurpreneur 

​

Jeanne C. Simon, Global Corporate Citizenship Manager, Accenture 

​

Building on Learnings: Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion

​

Track: Self Employment

​

Room: Spring

 

Organization(s): FMO - Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, ThinkOpal, ChildFund International and Mingati

​

This roundtable session is hosted by Childfund International, Kikundi and Thinkopal, who are part of the Livelihood through Social Entrepreneurship action group put together by Making Cents International. The working group set out to identify effective models that bridge access to finance barriers for youth from both supply and demand sides from a country, regional and continental perspective. This session will present the work group's research findings, to foster knowledge sharing and learning about effective and sustainable youth financing to ensure youth contribute to SDG 8 through social entrepreneurship. 

​

Speakers: 

Simon Mtabazi, Co-Founder and Social Innovation Adviser, Kikundi App

 

David Hernandez, Technical Assistance Officer- Financial Institutions, FMO- The Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank

 

Harliet Njenga, Social Entrepreneur, ThinkOpal 

​

Michael Boampong-Senior Youth Advisor, ChildFund International USA 

​

Improving Spaces for Youth Participation and Empowerment by Strengthening Strategic Planning Policies and Systems

​

Track: Global Context Matters

​

Room: Fenton

 

Organization(s): Creative Associates and Ministry of Youth, Jordan

​

The session will address TAP’s pioneering experience in transforming Jordan’s National youth strategy into an effective implementation plan that leverages youth participation and enables them to positively influence the lives of young people. With session will include a representative from the Ministry of Youth of Jordan who can speak to the implementation of the National Youth Strategy of Jordan and address lessons learned and the road map ahead.  

​

Speakers: 

Rana Kawar, Deputy Chief of Party for the Jordan Technical Assistance Program (TAP), Creative Associates International 

 

Sahar Mansour Abu Hamour, Vice Chairperson for the Jordan National Youth Strategy

Executive Office, Ministry of Youth, Jordan 

​

Fostering Social Cohesion to Enhance Youth Livelihoods

​

Track: Self Employment

​

Room: Great Hall

 

Organization(s): Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

​

During the session, participants should expect: 

• Sharing an overview of SILC and CRS’ Positive Youth Development and social cohesion frameworks, and their evidence for impact in building youth resilience, inclusion, and gender equality. 

• Providing a reflection about results and lessons learned from piloting SILC and social cohesion integration for increased, resilient, and inclusive economic opportunities among youth in Eastern DRC. 

• Sharing SILC manual and social cohesion indicator bank, to support youth programming in these two areas. 

• Using knowledge, lessons, and experiences gained from the session, participants will share their perspectives about the pilot findings and how they will use them to improve their youth programs and strategies. These ideas will be documented and shared with participants after the session, to be used to further refine and expand future youth livelihoods programming and research, including the planned final evaluation of the SILC and social cohesion integration pilot in DRC. 

​

Speakers: 

Taylor Lanton, Head of Programming, Catholic Relief Services (DRC)

 

Charles Bibuya, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Coordinator, Catholic Relief Services (DRC)

 

Samuel Mudumbi Habamungu- SILC Facilitator, Catholic Relief Services (DRC) 

​

11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 

Break

​

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. 

Lightening Talks from YEO Action Teams

​

Room: Great Hall

 

Join us for lightening talks by the 1st cohort of YEO 2030 Action teams. Led by youth champions and working with the global ecosystem, the action teams have been working on tasks that are big enough to matter and small enough to get done over 12 months to accelerate SDG 8. The Action teams will share their progress with respect to green jobs, youth inclusion and engagement, financial inclusion, mentorship for entrepreneurs and leveraging social capital through skills building programmes in the MENA region. 

​

Speakers: 

Taibat Hussain, Founder, Rising Child Foundation and Young People’s Action Team Member, UNICEF Generation Unlimited
 

Sarah Little, Director of Programs and Business Development, Education for Employment 

 

Simon Mtabazi, Co-Founder & Social Innovation Adviser, Kikundi App

 

Rebecca Barbary, Manager, Youth and Workforce Development at Palladium

 

Boris Tkachenko, CEO of Mentoring Institute and Board of Trustees Member, Youth Business International

 

1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

Networking Lunch

​

2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Deep-Dive Breakout Sessions 

​

Youth-led Green Jobs Action Team in Action: Building Locally-led, Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships for Green Jobs

​

Track: Global Workforce

​

Room: Great Hall

 

Organization(s): Palladium, FHI 360, UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services

​

You won’t want to miss this interactive session with global youth leaders. Youth at last year’s Summit identified Green Jobs as a priority. Join us to learn how youth have successfully tackled defining green jobs and have contributed to a Green Jobs toolkit that will jumpstart how your programs and bids can 1) Apply youth-led green jobs tools; 2) Ensure local youth-led leadership on green jobs; and 3) share your organization’s thought leadership to strengthen our Green Jobs toolkit! Through this session you will 1) exchange views on the ups (and downs) of engaging globally with youth leaders to identify, prepare for, and create green jobs; 2) compare a variety of definitions of green jobs from different perspectives (employer, youth, trainer); and 3) participate in the global launch of a Green Jobs toolkit to support youth leadership to address climate change. 

​

Speakers: 

Rebecca Barbary, Manager, Youth and Workforce Development at Palladium
 

Joanna Ramos-Romero, Senior Technical Advisor, Youth Programming at Catholic Relief Services
 

Manuela Radelsboeck, Programme Specialist, UNICEF
 

Sabri Kachbouri, Climate Change Activist
 

Chukwudi Clement Iweh, Peace and Development Professional and Social Entrepreneur
 

Obed Diener, Technical Advisor, Economic Participation at FHI 360
 

Hillary Proctor, Senior Director, Economic Opportunities, Making Cents International 

​

YEO Truly Reimagined: Being Guided by Youth with Disabilities as Knowledge Experts

​

Track: Global Context Matters 

​

Room: Spring

​

Organization: Sightsavers and Africa Disability Forum

​

In 2021 a group of youth with disabilities recorded a short video for the GYEO virtual Summit, telling us what reimagining youth economic opportunity meant to them. This 2023 breakout session brings those youth back together to present an evaluation framework they developed and applied to measure how well Sightsavers economic empowerment programs align to the criteria they presented in 2021. That tool will be open-source and freely available to all youth and all youth programs to align economic opportunity programming much better to the expectations of young people with disabilities, as a still often excluded or marginalized community. 

​

Speakers: 

Aver Akighir, Disability rights advocate and Co-Founder of Quest Aid Foundation

​

Regina Mwangi, Programme Officer Disability Inclusive Economic Empowerment Programme, Sightsavers

 

Rasak Adekoya, Disability inclusion specialist and Programme Development Advisor, for Economic Empowerment at Sightsavers

​

Grace Adeoshun, Disability rights advocate and alumni of Sightsavers economic empowerment programme, Nigeria

 

Joy Rehema, Disability rights advocate and alumni of Sightsavers economic empowerment programme, Kenya
 

Masereka Mohamed, Disability rights advocate and alumni of Sightsavers economic empowerment programme, Uganda
 

Akash Rahman, Disability rights advocate and alumni of Sightsavers economic empowerment programme, Bangladesh
 

Brian Emmanuel, Disability rights advocate and alumni of Sightsavers economic empowerment programme, Kenya 

​

Advancing an Equity and Structural Justice Framework   

 

Track: Global Context Matters

​

Room: Fenton

 

Organization: Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN), Aspen Institute

 

Inspired by the work of the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions - Opportunity Youth Forum, long committed to advancing racial equity and equitable economic opportunities in the United States, GOYN is now developing its own ‘equity and structural justice framework’ to be more systematic, explicit and focused on the underlying root causes in its push towards promoting youth-led equitable change. Advancing the framework will involve being more intentional in the work that GOYN already does, and coalescing the GOYN network around a shared understanding, language, values, and culture that uplifts diversity in perspectives across its communities.  
 

During this session, we will hear from Anchor Partners representing GOYN communities in India, who will share how they are contextualizing and operationalizing a GOYN Equity and Structural Justice Framework. We will meet young people who participated in the YEO Youth Pre-summit who will share how they have experienced inequities, and the powerful role young people can play in disrupting inequity. 

 

Speakers: 

Gabriela Carmo, Program Associate, Global Opportunity Youth Network

 

Joel Miranda, Senior Advisor for Global Youth Opportunity Leadership, Global Opportunity Youth Network  

​

 

DigiFemmes: Building Business and Careers for Women through Data and Digital Skills 
 

 

Track: Self Employment

​

Room: Ellsworth

 

Organization: Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC)

 

DigiFemmes is a four-year partnership between USAID's Global Economic Empowerment Fund, The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Microsoft and the Government of Cote d'Ivoire.  DigiFemmes is implemented by the Consortium of five stakeholders with SAFEEM (Swiss Association for Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets) acting as the team leader. The program teaches young women digital and data skills to secure employment and run their own small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Cote d'Ivoire through two distinct tracks.  The Entrepreneurs track addresses the constraints that women face in starting and growing a small to medium enterprises by helping them master data and digital skills to manage and grow their enterprises, launch new products, and explore new markets. The Academy track uses a gamified learning platform to take participants from zero coding skills to full stack developers, with support to launch a startup or be placed in jobs with high-demand technology skills. 

​

Speakers: 

Kathy Vaughn- Senior Program Officer, Gender and Social Inclusion practice group, Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC)

 

Minh H. Chau- White House Presidential Innovation Fellow, Millenium Challenge Corporation (Secondment) 

​

3:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.

Break

 

3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

Deep-Dive Breakout Sessions

 

Global Kids, Inc: A Case Study for an Empowering Approach to Global Citizenship 
 

Track: Global Context Matters 

 

Room: Ellsworth
 

Organization: Global Kids 
 

This interactive session has three primary aims: 1) Describe and analyze the profile of a global citizen; 2) Examine how youth development programs can promote global competencies for their students; and 3) Explore new learning tools and youth-led action projects for youth programs. Using the Asia Society’s Matrix for Global Competence, Global Kids will explore its program through each of the four experiential aspects: (1) investigate the world, 2) weigh perspectives; 3) communicate ideas; 4) and take action. 

 

Speakers: 

Wida Amir, Managing Director, Global Kids, DC 

 

​

The Digitized Micro-Enterprise

​

Track: Self Employment

​

Room: Spring

 

Organization: Technoserve and Citi Foundation

 

Micro-enterprises form the backbone of many local economies, providing essential goods and services and creating self-employment and job opportunities for youth in marginalized communities. However, these businesses are often extremely vulnerable to disruptions such as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the global food crisis.  

​

New digital technologies can help small businesses adapt quickly in the face of challenges and seize opportunities as they arise. Digital tools enable entrepreneurs to better connect with their customers and manage their finances, inventory, and supply chains. Technology also makes it possible to deliver remote and blended learning to help youth entrepreneurs build essential skills. 

​

Drawing lessons from work with thousands of youth micro-retailers in Sub-Saharan Africa, this session will highlight some of the opportunities that technology presents to boost resilience, the challenges to adoption and uptake, and strategies to overcome these obstacles. 

​

Speakers: 

Alice Waweru, Entrepreneurship Portfolio Lead, Technoserve

 

Zebradedra Hunter, Program Officer, Citi Foundation

 

Andrew Bosson, Vice President of Strategy and Impact, Marketforce

​

Catalysing ECD Micro-enterprise Growth: A Triple Impact Opportunity for Children, Caregivers, and Unemployed Youth

​

Track: Self Employment

 

Room: Great Hall

​

Organization: Harambee 

​

This session seeks to draw on the knowledge and experience of global partners to understand what systems and business models can create bankable and sustainable early childhood development (ECD) micro-enterprises in South Africa, and as a prototype for other developing nations. This session will be facilitated by two young speakers from South Africa and be in a group problem-solving format. The session will 1) set the landscape of the sector, drawing on research conducted this past year (completed in partnership with the IDRC and including input from 30+ stakeholders); 2) highlight key challenges and opportunities for micro-enterprise job creation; and 3) problem solve collaboratively the key question of how to create an investable ECD micro-enterprise model.

 

Speakers: 

Victoria Duncan, Head: Research and Evidence, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator

 

Nhlanhla Ngulube, Research and Impact Specialist in the Microenterprise team, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator 

​

4:25 p.m. - 5:25 p.m.

 

Alliance for International Youth Development (AIYD) USG Policy Plenary 

​

The future is Now: Reimagining Youth in U.S. Foreign Assistance Policy

 

Room: Great Hall 

​

Recognizing that half the world’s population is under the age of 30, and that the world’s youth are already influencing the geoeconomic and social global landscape and development outcomes, this session will look at how the U.S. Government--though executive agency policy and congressional legislation--is refreshing and augmenting its attention to youth in its foreign and development policy and strategy. From USAID’s newly updated Youth in Development Policy and MCC’s Inclusion and Gender Strategy to State Department’s appointment of Special Envoy for Youth Engagement to the fiscal year 2023 omnibus requirement to report on spending for youth programs; there is much to unpack. In addition, development priorities concerning gender, localization, equity, recovery, resilience, and responding to climate change bring further policy and program opportunities for youth. Join AIYD for an interagency discussion with policymakers and shakers on directions of U.S Foreign Assistance policy by, with and for youth. 

​

Organization: Alliance for International Youth Development (AIYD)

 

Moderator: 

Rachel Clement, Manager, Project, Influencing U.S. Government, ChildFund International and AIYD Policy Co-chair 

​

Speakers:  

Alex Nemeth, Deputy Special Envoy for Global Issues, US Department of State

 

Katerina Ntep, Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Deputy Vice President for Sector Operations in MCC’s Department of Compact Operations

 

Hilary Taft, Technical Specialist for Youth, USAID

 

Taibat Hussain, Founder, Rising Child Foundation and Young People’s Action Team Member, Generation Unlimited

 

Dr. Nicole Goldin, Global Head, Inclusive Economic Growth, Abt Associates and AIYD Policy Co-Chair 

​