Academy on Youth Employment

Participants learn about promoting youth employment for peace and resilience at elective course on Youth Employment in Fragile Settings

News | 20 July 2018
On 3-5 July 2018, in the framework of the Academy on Youth Employment, the ILO and the International Training Centre (ITCILO) held an elective course on Youth employment in fragile settings in English and French. Participants included Government, workers and employers representatives, ILO and NGO staff, with a large majority working in African countries.

As part of the ILO response to the growing requests from governments and social partners, the Academy on Youth Employment aims to enhance the capacity of decision makers to develop comprehensive strategies to tackle the multifaceted dimensions of the youth employment challenge. In that spirit, the elective on Youth Employment in Fragile Settings aimed to provide participants with practical knowledge and tools to promote youth employment for peace and resilience. It also aimed to provide a space for participants to discuss the practical challenges they are facing in their own work in fragile environments.

The elective course, which lasted 6 hours and was split into three 2-hour blocks, allowed participants to:

Over three days the participants were invited to reflect on the concept of fragility and its drivers and consequences for the world of work, analyse the different parts of Recommendation No.205, and discuss a variety of instruments and principles in the area of employment and decent work for peace and resilience. They were also introduced to three theories of change of how youth employment can contribute to peace, and invited to reflect upon the theories and their implications for the design of youth employment programmes. Finally, they had a chance to focus on the design and implementation of youth employment initiatives, including through the integrated approach of ILO’s Jobs for Peace and Resilience Flagship Programme, and on the role of workers, employers and civil society organizations therein. The elective course ended with a session where participants presented a challenge they faced in their work in fragile situations, and received feedback from the group and the facilitators on how to address it.


Some of the course materials and activities will be used in the context of the Learning Forum on innovation in public investment and employment programmes (1- 5 October 2018) and of the training Promotion of youth employment in fragile settings (8 -12 October 2018), which will also be held at the ITCILO Campus in Turin.