Approach

The GOYN approach creates systemic and scalable impact at three different levels to positively impact Opportunity Youth: (i) the youth themselves, (ii) the youth employment ecosystem which supports them, and (iii) the systems that can drive or hinder youth opportunities and well-being in the community (policies, mindsets, funding flows). 

Opportunity Youth (OY)

GOYN improves economic outcomes and well-being for Opportunity Youth by:

• Connecting them to available opportunities and services;
• Facilitating youth access to counseling selling, mentorship, training and other skills-building opportunities that can improve their employability; and
• Supporting youth journeys towards decent and sustainable income-generating opportunities, either through formal employment, informal employment or self-employment.

GOYN takes the Authentic Youth Partnership approach to youth engagement, which means that youth are engaged through all phases of GOYN work, not just the beginning or the end. Youth views and opinions are continuously and equally sought and valued, and they are given the tools, training and spaces to voice their ideas.

Read more on our youth engagement approach here.

Youth Employment Ecosystem

To achieve impact at scale, GOYN builds a Collaborative in each community, which aims to improve the coordination of the entire youth employment ecosystem to identify gaps in services, leverage assets, reduce duplication of efforts and drive forward a common vision and strategy for the productive inclusion of Opportunity Youth in the community. GOYN Collaboratives made up of independent organizations, promote data-driven continuous learning and representation of youth and actors from the public sector, private sector and civil society. GOYN Collaboratives co-design, implement and monitor interventions tailored to the local context to support Opportunity Youth. GOYN Collaboratives also seek to identify and redress structural injustices that disadvantage specific sub-groups of Opportunity Youth, such as young migrants, LGBTQI+ youth, youth with disabilities, and young women.

“The main learning we have had from the GOYN pilots with migrant population and women population is to recognize the additional barriers of these populations that imply offering complementary services to facilitate their access to opportunities, such as childcare, advice on legal issues for migration, accompaniment and differential guidance during the routes.”

GOYN Bogotá

Read the GOYN Learning Brief on Collaborative Infrastructure

Systemic Shifts in Youth Ecosystem

Lastly, GOYN seeks to sustain impact at the youth and ecosystem level by supporting system shifts in the youth ecosystem. This includes advocating and influencing changes in funding flows directed towards services for Opportunity Youth and policies or practices that affect Opportunity Youth, as well as promoting the use of a positive narrative around Opportunity Youth. 

A full description of the GOYN approach can be found in the GOYN Learning Report.