Advancing Youth Employment Through Inclusive Partnerships

title: "Advancing Youth Employment Through Inclusive Partnerships" category: "People & Society" location: "West Africa" summary: "Convened public, private, and civil society partners to co-create solutions that expanded opportunities for young people." year: 2024 client: "National Youth Council & private-sector coalition" order: 3

The challenge

A country of 30 million people was adding more than 400,000 young job seekers each year. Public employment programmes reached fewer than ten percent of them, and employers reported persistent shortages in the same sectors where unemployment was highest.

What we did

• Convened twelve employers, six TVET institutions, and three ministries inside a single delivery coalition with shared targets.
• Co-designed sector-aligned six-month training programmes that ended with guaranteed employer interviews.
• Built an outcomes-based payment model so providers were paid against placement, retention, and wage growth — not enrolment.

Outcomes

• 18,400 young people moved into formal employment in the first 18 months, against a target of 12,000.
• Six-month retention exceeded 80 percent across all cohorts.
• The coalition is being expanded to a second region with the same governance structure.