FinYouth: Scaling Effective Financing Mechanisms for Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship (Executive Summary)
Executive summary of the FinYouth report on financing solutions for youth employment and entrepreneurship.
The FinYouth report was developed by the Global Development Incubator (GDI) in partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN).
In every country, governments, donors, civil society organizations, corporates and young people have mobilized to address youth unemployment, with an increasing recognition that a suite of solutions ranging from demand-driven skilling programs to mentorship and entrepreneurship support will be needed to address the problem at scale. Appropriate mobilization of financing and associated mechanisms is acutely needed to fund these solutions at the scale of the challenge. Importantly, a range of new models have emerged to address scalability, effectiveness and sustainability issues that often affect grant-funded programs. However, youth employment stakeholders lack familiarity with these financing solutions and have expressed the need for guidance on how and where to use these products.
The FinYouth report addresses these issues by:
a. Providing a comprehensive review of financing mechanisms for youth employment and entrepreneurship;
b. Identifying financing models proven to be the most effective, scalable and sustainable over time; and
c. Recommending products for stakeholders to consider launching and scaling in their markets.
This executive summary introduces the analytical framework used in the report, highlights key conclusions and recommendations, and includes an overview of the 11 product recommendations made in the report.