Joint Programme on Youth Employment

Official signing ceremony of the Joint Programme on Youth Employment attended by senior representatives from the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations system, who together inked the acceptance of the Joint Programme Document for a two-year cooperation, starting in 2017.  

A cooperation agreement with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, who will be a strategic development partner, was also signed.

UNited for Youth Employment in Cambodia

UN agencies join forces to promote youth employment in Cambodia

The youth unemployment remains a big challenge for Cambodia. As 270,000 new workers enter the labour-force every year, many, among them, are taking the risk to take on jobs where informality and working poverty prevail. Key challenges, among others, include low level of education, skill-mismatch, low-skilled and unskilled labor force. Recognizing the need to address this issue, the United Nations system in Cambodia has developed the Joint Programme “UNited For Youth Employment in Cambodia” in partnership with the Royal Government of Cambodia with the aims to contribute to addressing these critical issues of youth employment in Cambodia.

The Joint Programme will be implemented for an initial phase of two years starting in 2017 with objective to facilitate young people’s entrance to the labour force while reducing inequalities – particularly for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups- and ensuring young women and men are better able to meet labour demand.

In the first two-year phase of the programme, SDC ($2 Million USD) and the five UN agencies ($2.5 Million, collectively through additional partnerships) will fund the programme.

The joint programme will focus on activities that will support young people and institutions directly:  Providing them with quality formal and non-formal education including volunteerism to develop relevant technical and vocational skills; equipping them with adequate entrepreneurial and business skills to create and develop sustainable enterprises; and helping them reduce their exposure to discrimination at work while raising their awareness of rights; and how to promote them.