Youth and trade

<p>The Africa Trade Competitiveness and Market Access (ATCMA) Continental Component is designed to improve livelihoods, employment and economic growth in Africa through increased sustainable intra-African and EU-Africa trade. It complements and coordinates the existing and planned actions at the Sub-regional Component levels to ensure an overall coherent umbrella ATCMA programme.&nbsp;</p><p>The ATCMA aims to improve the <strong>trade competitiveness</strong> of African SMEs and their <strong>market access</strong> to the African region and the European Union (EU). The Continental Component is structured around support to create a robust continental quality infrastructure and enable intra-African trade as well as facilitation for green transition at the continental level. Targeted technical interventions are designed to strengthen a continental regulatory framework that supports trade competitiveness through value addition in priority value chains (VCs) and &ldquo;Made in Africa&rdquo; products.</p><p>The programme adopts a holistic value chain approach, and therefore includes interventions that support the design, production, financing, processing, commercialization, labelling, marketing and distribution of African products by SMEs.</p>

<p>The African Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) is now a reality and the International Trade Centre (ITC) <ins cite="mailto:Raphaëlle%20Lancey&quot; datetime="2021-10-04T09:35">is poised</ins> to <ins cite="mailto:Raphaëlle%20Lancey&quot; datetime="2021-10-04T09:35">play a central role in&nbsp;</ins>its i<ins cite="mailto:Raphaëlle%20Lancey&quot; datetime="2021-10-04T09:35">mplementation..</ins></p><p>ITC has developed an umbrella programme, the ONE TRADE AFRICA (OTA) to empower MSMEs, women and youth to access the opportunities unfolding under the new single market.&nbsp;</p><p>OTA is an integrated package of technical assistance solutions that ITC is offering to the African business community operating in both the formal and informal sectors to enable them to understand the opportunities of the AfCFTA and to build the capacity of enterprises and entrepreneurs to export across Africa and beyond.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p>

<p>A COMPETITIVE FORCE FOR THE FUTURE</p><p>ITC&rsquo;s Youth Moonshot is expected to change the trade narrative from the bottom-up by developing solutions that are grounded in local realities. By combining expertise through country projects, sectoral approaches, data and research, and direct connection with youth, the initiative will offer a comprehensive toolkit for youth economic empowerment through trade. This approach seeks to build momentum to establish a strong alliance of stakeholders committed to supporting youth to benefit from the transformative power of trade.</p><p>Over four years, ITC will support diverse groups of youth, including vulnerable populations. ITC will work with policy makers, BSOs, finance providers and other partners to nurture a supportive ecosystem for young entrepreneurs, building the knowledge, skills, and networks that young people need to succeed.&nbsp;</p><p>Youth is one of the five impact areas of ITC&rsquo;s 2022-2025 Strategic Plan, identified as being critical to delivering an inclusive, prosperous and sustainable future.&nbsp;</p><p>Youth and Trade&rsquo;s Vision for 2025 is:</p><p>1. ITC is recognised as an agenda-setter on empowering youth to trade</p><p>2. Through ITC support, BSOs, market partners and financial institutions develop world-class services for youth</p><p>3. Youth are able to tap into better economic opportunities by leveraging trade channels</p><p>4. ITC is a trusted and effective partner to deliver on the aid for trade and youth economic empowerment agenda</p><p>5. ITC has an effective coordinated response to addressing the trade and youth challenge</p>

<p>The Gazan population continues to suffer from longstanding Israeli occupation and poor socioeconomic conditions. In the past decade, the Gaza Strip experienced three wars; these left many people internally displaced. Moreover, like elsewhere, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a negative shock to Palestinian socioeconomic development, putting at risk public welfare, employment and livelihoods, leading to more poverty, no food security and social cohesion. Living conditions were already difficult in Gaza, with every second person there living below the poverty line before the Covid-19 crisis.</p><p>Through its theory of change, this project helps unlock the potential of refugees, youth, local communities and SMEs in the Gaza Strip to improve their livelihoods and economic conditions. In doing so, the project contributes to social stability and provides support in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. It does so by supporting employment and enhancing the employability of women and youth, including refugees and internally displaced people. The project focuses on freelancing skills and self-employment, as investing in this sector is an effective way to boost the Gazan economy, considering the complicated political context and the de facto lack of Gazan control over the borders and the implications of the pandemic.</p>

<p>The Youth Startup Academy Uganda project, financed by the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME), aims to incubate 1,000 young entrepreneurs by 2024. To fulfil this goal, the project will adapt and implement the Korean Youth Startup Academy programme, the most successful Korean startup incubation and acceleration programme. The project will partner with an existing incubation hub in Kampala, and set-up YSA in the hub by upgrading infrastructure and technical portfolio to support entrepreneurs. Throughout the project term, the project will run 4 intakes of entrepreneurs, and will provide training, mentoring and consulting services. For the implementation, the project will partner with the Government of Uganda (i.e. Ministry of ICT, Ministry of Trade, and the National Information Techonology Authority of Uganda), the Korean Government (Ministry of SME and Startups, KOSME) and various agents in the Korean startup ecosystem.</p>

<p>In 2017, the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) was launched to contribute to the economic development of The Gambia by improving the employability of the youth population of the country, especially potential and returning migrants. The project enhances employability and self-employment opportunities for youth through vocational training and the creation of micro and small-sized enterprises, and support in catalysing value addition and internationalization in selected sectors.</p><p><br></p><p>The project takes a market-led approach to create employment opportunities and simultaneously upskills the workforce according to the demand of the market place. It focuses on traditional sectors such as agriculture and tourism while also helping to diversify the Gambian economy by supporting &ldquo;new&rdquo; promising sectors including the creative and digital services industries.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>YEP is implemented by the International Trade Centre in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MOTIE) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS) of the Republic of The Gambia.&nbsp;</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">This project emanates from the technical assistance request of the Government of South Sudan to the International Trade Centre. It has specific objectives of improving the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and increasing employment opportunities for the South Sudanese labour force, with a focus on youth and women. In particular, it aims to provide an integrated and holistic assistance for the development of MSMEs in the fruits and vegetables value chains to create quick-win economic and employment opportunities for South Sudanese population targeted under the project. It will address the main challenges of the fruits and vegetables subsector along the value chains by improving production, processing and handling practices; building capacities of MSMEs to comply with mandatory market requirements and standards for enhanced access to markets; enhancing human skills as well as strengthening producer cooperatives. It will also address the employment problems of youth and women by building entrepreneurship and business management capacities and implementing innovative schemes to facilitate access to finance for youth entrepreneurs and youth-owned businesses.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The project has an overall objective of improving the livelihoods of targeted South Sudanese populations through the creation of jobs and income.</p>