VIEWPOINT BY BILL REESE

Tackling global youth unemployment: are the stars in alignment?

Even in the fast-paced and often chaotic world in which all of us live, sometimes the stars arrange themselves in ways that help us see a clear path forward. I recently participated in a series of events -- some of them years in the making -- that reflected this rare alignment.

On March 27, in Washington DC, we released a paper commissioned by Microsoft that documents the growing economic and social challenges facing youth around the world. Opportunity for Action: Preparing Youth for 21st Century Livelihoods demonstrates in dramatic detail the pressing need to ensure today’s young people have the education, skills and employment opportunities so necessary for them to be successful. The report concludes with a global call to action for all of us – corporations, governments, civil society organizations and young people -- to work together to address these challenges. That response, according to the paper, must be “collective, massive, and global.”

Christy@IYF

A 'How To' Meeting in the Middle East Tackles the World's Highest Rate of Youth Unemployment

This week, all eyes are on Amman, Jordan. Or at least they should be. Today, one in four young people across the Middle East and North Africa can’t find jobs. That’s the highest youth unemployment rate in the world. What can be done? Over the next three days, 200 top level leaders are coming together in Amman to tackle this full-blown crisis. What they have to say about effective strategies to address these issues – and how the business, government, and civil society sectors must work together to expand opportunities for the region’s youth – deserves our serious attention, no matter where we live.