In the 21 st Century, youth employment will emerge as a great crisis issue the world over. In seeking ways to tackle this important problem, the Youth Employment Network (YEN) was established. This was done as a result of the priority given to the issue of youth employment by the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation.
Following on the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in September 2000, a United Nations High Level Panel was formed to look into this issue. Consequently, certain recommendations were made and transmitted by the Secretary General to the General Assembly. Out of these early initiatives and the adoption of the UN General Assembly Resolution on Promoting Youth Employment, was the YEN born.
In dealing with the issue of youth employment, it is obvious that only a strategic and organised approach can bring concrete and sustainable results. Therefore, it becomes increasingly apparent that only when all sectors of society are involved – governments and multilateral agencies, as well as national, non-governmental and youth organisations, along with the business sector and various civil society initiatives – can this crucial issue be tackled on all fronts. Herein lies the importance of YEN – the forming of a collaborative network of concerned partners in solving this problem of youth employment.
Since 2000, a number of Lead Countries have committed themselves to successful youth employment practices that provide useful examples to others. These include Azerbaijan , Indonesia , Senegal , Brazil , Egypt , Sri Lanka , Brazil and Iran , with other countries, such as China , India , Hungary , Nigeria , the Philippines and Vietnam also becoming more active in the process.
In learning from these Lead Countries, along with other national programmes, it will be seen that youth employment is not simply an isolated policy issue for one special interest group amongst others. Rather, sound youth employment policies will have positive repercussions for employment policies in general and in other areas involving the social, cultural, security – and yes, economic – development of countries.
China as the most populated nation in the world, is an important player in addressing this issue of youth employment and has the potential to take on a leading role within the framework of the Youth Employment Network.