Progress report for
YouthCan! Global partnership for youth employability
Achievement at a glance
In 2019, YouthCan! was active in 31 countries, reaching 5,700 young people and more than 1,700 volunteers. Diversifying the activities offered per participant and expanding upon existing programmes to best suit the needs of our participants were the biggest focus areas in 2019. Youth employability activities saw a 50% increase compared to last year, with more than 300 activities made available to young people across the globe. As a result, higher employability and an increase in digital skills are reported for young people growing up in alternative care offered by SOS Children’s Villages. We see evidence in the programmes that where YouthCan! is implemented, the self-reliance rate of young people leaving care is developing at a 5% higher rate than on the global average across all our pro-grammes. A deepening of our work in 2019 was in great part possible thanks to the growing network of corporate volunteers that joined YouthCan! 90 new local partnerships were established and 400 additional volunteers donated their time and effort to young people.Next Steps
Programme intervention comes with pronounced needs to address education setbacks, the digital divide, re-skilling and mental health. This can't be done without meaningful youth participation across our YouthCan! network. Our work for young people has to be done with young people. There's only a decade left until we'll be faced with our progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. But more importantly, it's year after year that young people in our care prepare for leaving. \r\n\r\nSince 2020 was an year of tremendous change and the pilot phase of the programme implementation has come to an end, like many other organizations, YouthCan! is redesigning its ways of working. YC! Vision 2024 is currently in progress to be finalized, after carrying out consultations with all the stakeholders involved in the programme. We are looking into capacity building across YouthCan! countries, expanding our partnerships with a focus on the local and regional level, experimenting with cross-border mentorship online and diversifying our training and mentoring offering by including social entrepreneurship. YouthCan! Vision 2024 will be finalized in April 2021, once our first External Evaluation study is being published.Beneficiaries
Young people in SOS programmes and local communities; corporate volunteers