Sushil Ram
CYP Pacific Centre
Pacific regional Conference on
“Investing in Youth Employment”
 Held in Port Vila Vanuatu
 45 key stakeholders working directly with youth
employment/youth enterprise in the Pacific region.
 Participants included Government, civil society,
private sector and financial institution representatives
from Cook Islands, Kiribati, Solomon Islands,
Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Niue, Tonga, Samoa,
New Zealand and Australia; and international/regional
organisation such as ILO, PYC, UN agencies and SPC.
Youth Employment Challenge
 Youth unemployment – critical challenge
 The economic crisis has brought the largest ever
cohort of unemployed youth
 Almost half of the youth unemployed -45% came
from Asia and the Pacific,
 Youth unemployment affects:
14.7% in South East Asia and the Pacific
Pacific Youth Employment
 In the Pacific: The Official Youth Unemployment Rate is
6.5% - ranges from 45% in Solomon to 5.3% in PNG.
 Problems of labour market information  Labor Market Information & Analysis underdeveloped,
available data is out-dated, each country has own criteria
for determining who counts as unemployed
 youth unemployment rate maybe higher than the official
statistics
 Youth unemployment has been more sensitive to the
global economic crisis than adult unemployment
 Young people are 3 to 5 times more likely to be
unemployed than adults. 4 times in the Pacific
Economic realities in the Pacific
 Economic uncertainties and limited private sector
development
 Some of the world’s smallest economies are located in the
Pacific region
 young people in the Pacific region, like the developing
world, have limited access to education, job skills
training, and self-employment opportunities.
 High levels of youth unemployment in the Pacific are
compounded by the low rate of entrepreneurship among
young women and men
 main cause has been the lack of skills and knowledge,
support services, capital, and entrepreneurship culture
“Pacific Declaration on Investing
in Youth Employment”
Recognized
 youth unemployment as a critical issue
 young people need to be the focus – and not the indirect
beneficiaries- of job creation policies
 the positive contribution that the CYP, ILO and PYC have
made, and the commitment to collaborate further
 Importance of regional mandates, the MDG’s, Pacific
Plan, the Pacific Action Plan on Decent Work, the Pacific
Youth Strategy , and the Commonwealth PAYE
 Endorsement of the Youth Employment advocacy
initiative - to include Youth Employment on the “Pacific
Island Forum Leaders 2011” Meting Agenda.
Key Recomendations
Employment Creation
 Governments, the private sector and development
agencies were asked to put in place enabling
environments for job creation
 Need for governments to develop comprehensive
policy on the youth employment at the national level
 The Private Sector as one of the key stakeholders on
youth employment should be involved to a greater
extent in addressing the issue
 Expand the Pacific seasonal Labour Scheme (Aust/NZ)
Key Recomendations
Employability
To enhance employability of young people, action be
taken in the fields of
 access to education and skills training,
 invest in education and vocational training for young
people, and improve the impact of those investments
 labour market information and
 early awareness to the World of Work.
Key Recommendation
Entrepreneurship
 need to develop an innovative entrepreneurial culture
 Entrepreneurship has become central to economic
growth
 Youth should be considered as part of the solution
 need to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship
 Human Resource Development and Entrepreneurship
Training, support services, apprenticeships
 Capital, micro finance schemes,
 Product & market development
 Conducive environment for youth entrepreneurs
Key Recomendations
Equal opportunities
 develop an inclusive society – all youths - are provided
with equal access and opportunities including basic
social protection.
 Efforts should be made to provide opportunities to
disadvantaged youth.
Regional Action Plan
1) Develop the Pacific Youth Employment Strategy:
“PacificYES”- the CYP, ILO and PYC were entrusted
to take the lead to develop the PacificYES
2) Development of National Youth Strategy or NAP - all
countries present committed themselves to develop
national Youth Employment Strategy and NAP.
Regional Action Plan

Develop Pacific Youth Employment Network:
“PacificYEN”- to facilitate better coordination,
resource mobilization, knowledge sharing and policy
engagement.

Prioritizing Youth Employment - agreed to ensure
that Youth Employment is given the highest priority
with National and Regional agendas, including

Strategic Partnerships - The CYP, the ILO and PYC
agreed to strengthen its partnership to further
enhance Youth Employment policies and Programs
Key Recommendations to CYP
 Policy formulation advocacy and technical
assistance
 Capacity building of key stakeholders dealing
with youth employment
 Entrepreneurship training, replicating the CYCI
model in some Pacific Countries
 Advocacy and knowledge sharing/good practices
Thanks