Youth at Heart Virtual Forum 2020: ILO's session on decent jobs for youth

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up the Youth at Heart virtual forum to address the issues affecting youth around the world. This session will feature an interactive conversation with young people about solutions, including youth-led, to the challenges posed by COVID-19 on themselves and their peers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a systematic, deep and disproportionate impact on young people. It has been particularly hard on young women, younger youth and youth in lower-income countries.

The Global Youth and COVID-19 Survey conducted by partners of the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth finds that the pandemic is inflicting multiple shocks on young people. It is not only destroying their jobs and employment prospects, but also disrupting their education and training and having a serious impact on their mental well-being. This session during the Youth at Heart Forum organised by the Dutch Ministry of Foreig Affairs will feature an interactive conversation with young people about solutions, including youth-led, to the challenges posed by COVID-19 on themselves and their peers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a systematic, deep and disproportionate impact on young people. It has been particularly hard on young women, younger youth and youth in lower-income countries.

Panelists

  • Ambassador Tijmen Rooseboom, Dutch Ambassador for Youth, Education and Work
  • Mr. Sangheon Lee, Director, Employment Policy Department, ILO
  • Ms. Rabya Anwar, young representative from Employers’ Federation of Pakistan
  • Ms. Jane Njoki Muthoni, Chair, ITUC-Africa Youth Committee

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National Youth Consultations

In preparation for the discussions, ILO PROSPECTS hosted consultations with young refugees and forcibly displaced young people in Uganda, Kenya and Lebanon that will serve as inputs to the main session.
How young Kenyans cope with COVID-19

ILO social partners, young Kenyans and refugees held a virtual discussion to come up with a common position ahead of the Youth at Heart virtual Forum to be held on 2 November 2020. The talks involved organizations working on behalf of young people (Kenyan State Department of Youth Affairs, ILO, Central Organization of Trade Unions, Federation of Kenyan Employers and UNHCR) and young refugees from the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps.

The voices and aspirations of these young people consulted will serve as input to the Youth and COVID-19 session, informing and influencing the discussion and outcome of the Youth at Heart Forum.

COVID-19: the resilience of young Lebanese and Syrian refugees

The short documentary 'The impacts of COVID-19 on young refugees in Lebanon' tells the stories of young refugees as well as that of young people involved in rubble removal in Beirut, as part of the ILO's Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP).

Watch the documentary

The impact of COVID-19 on young refugees and forcibly displaced persons in Uganda

The video highlights the voices of refugee and host community youth in the ILO PROSPECTS target districts of Arua, Madi Okollo and Isingiro in Uganda. It shows the impacts of COVID-19 on young people, what actions they are taking to mitigate the fallout from the crisis, and how the ILO is supporting recovery efforts in the country.

Watch the documentary