Partnering for Youth

Towards a Partnership Strategy for the ILO

Project context

Youth employment is a vital issue today. Unemployment and underemployment are acute problems that could expand in coming decades at great cost to young women and men and their societies everywhere. But youth employment is also a great opportunity, holding the potential to help youth improve their lives and their communities, as well as to benefit the countries in which they live.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is a key player in international efforts to promote policies and initiatives on youth employment. With its tripartite constituency and global alliances, the ILO acts as a catalyst in mobilizing broad-based support and broad-reaching action on youth employment. In addition, its reputation for establishing international standards on social and economic issues such Decent Work in general and child labour in particular, as well as its track record in advising governments on national employment and youth policies, contribute to its legitimacy related to youth and work.

In the coming years, the ILO is looking to expand its existing work on youth employment. One potential tool for effectively addressing the issue is closer collaboration with the private sector in partnerships. While the ILO has gathered some significant experiences in building such partnerships (e.g. in the context of its work on child labor), the organization has little experience in leveraging the potential of partnerships to its youth employment work. 

Project objectives

The project added to the strategic discussion within the ILO on whether and how to build new youth employment partnerships with the private sector as part of the ILO’s long established and evolving technical cooperation programmes at the country level. By looking at and learning from existing initiatives, the project made recommendations as to how the ILO could build new partnerships in a beneficial manner. In addition, the project provided input to the ongoing discussions within the ILO on the potential role of partnerships in its work, and the rules and mechanisms that need to be in place to ensure that such new modalities are in full conformity with ILO policies and principles.