The power of partnerships - Lessons learned from the “Jobs, Skills and Finance (JSF) for Women and Youth in The Gambia Programme.”

UNCDF and the International Trade Center (ITC) joint action on the “Jobs, Skills and Finance (JSF) for Women and Youth in The Gambia Programme” funded by the European Union focuses on climate change adaptation, low levels of financial inclusion, and the lack of job opportunities for youth and women. JSF programme was launched in June 2018, and is first investments were made in July 2019.

Watch Capacity4dev interview with Lumana Kamashi, EU Delegation to The about the JSF:

About the programme

With a budget of 15,000,000 EUR, the programme aims to create 3,000 direct jobs for youth and women. Through a combination of grants and technical assistance, the programme focuses on three main objectives; firstly to increase employment of women and youth through green and resilient economies. This will be implemented by supporting local authorities and communities to develop climate resilient investments that in turn can create job opportunities for vulnerable groups through “cash for work” (C4W) and procurement to local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The second objective is to improve opportunities in education and skills development for women, youth and MSMEs – by providing support to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVETs) and other local training providers to improve the quality, and accessibility of vocational training schemes offered to youth and women which will be linked to the C4W opportunities and key sectors of economic opportunities at the local level.

The last objective is to increase access to inclusive finance, by using a market systems approach to support the development and scale up of targeted financial services and products, particularly for women and youth, and the development of financial inclusive markets.

Lessons learned about partnership

Nothing can be said at this point about the results of the programme, but lessons can already be learned from the partnership established between the two UNCDF practice areas and the ITC.

Read about the lessons learned drawn by Barbara Scola, Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Source: https://www.cgap.org/research/publication/building-cross-sector-partner…

Links

Decent Jobs for Youth Partnership

UN Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development

Youth Financial Services in The Gambia (UNCDF 2018)

LoCAL Climate Adaptive Living Facility

UNCDF Strategic Framework

Read more: https://www.uncdf.org/article/3967/the-jobs-skills-and-finance-for-wome…