what: the Youth Employment Summit Campaign (YES) was launched by 1,600 delegates from 120 countries at the Alexandria Youth Employment Summit in Egypt on September 11, 2002. The campaign was launched in response to the enormous challenge of youth unemployment facing most countries and affecting millions of young people around the world.

In over 60 countries, YES is bringing together diverse stakeholders through the YES Country Networks to work collaboratively in taking actions that result in productive and sustainable employment for youth. YES actively strives towards the promotion of youth employment: a world free of youth unemployment is a step towards a world free of poverty, which is the ultimate goal of YES.

why: the campaign’s goals, which are planned to cover a decade (2002-2012), are:

to build the capacity of young people to create sustainable livelihoods,

to establish an entrepreneurial culture where young people will work towards self employment.

The short-term goal of YES is to bring about large-scale youth employment through sustainable methods that can keep getting replicated over time. YES launched a decade-long campaign of action in 2002 so that an additional 500 million young adults, especially youth facing poverty, will have productive and sustainable livelihoods by the year 2012. However, the long-term goal of YES is to bring about a world where all the young are emancipated and productively engaged in sustainable activities, with poverty slowly but steadily being eliminated.

how: renewable energy is a means to combine the goals of youth employment (and therefore income generation) and environmental protection, thereby contributing to sustainable development. One method to implement this potential link between youth employment and environmental protection is to develop youth-led enterprises to produce and market renewable energy to off-grid consumers. Youth-led renewable energy enterprises are a viable means of achieving sustainable development, as they promote technologies that are less harmful to the global environs (as compared to conventional technologies), while at the same time providing sustainable income-generating opportunities for youth.

networking: the YES Campaign has successfully created a platform for young people to contribute to their countries and communities with a new-found hope, vision and purpose. The YES Country Networks are youth-led national-level coalitions focused on promoting youth employment in their countries. Their primary aim is to work with diverse stakeholders to develop programs and projects for youth employment in their countries. Membership of YES Networks is diverse, including government officials, development agencies, business groups, and youth-serving civil society organisations.

eco-jobs: a term commonly used to signify employment that is environmentally friendly is ‘eco-job’. Eco-jobs are not restricted only to youth-entrepreneurs setting up renewable energy enterprises. Gainful employment with organisations that deal with or promote renewable energy is an equally significant option. Promoting alternative sources of energy must form a part of regional policies as it can bring employment to regions which were not previously industrially developed.

internship: the YES Campaign is always looking for talented individuals with a passion for working with youth across the world.