The world is young. The approximately 1.8 billion youths living today represent the largest young population ever, and almost 90% of them live in low- and middle-income countries.
How to support young people, particularly the most disadvantaged, and where the potential lies to transform pathways into meaningful and sustained employment were key topics discussed during the 20th YMCA World Council hybrid event in July, which featured conversations with representatives from national YMCAs around the world and YMCA’s partner organizations.
YMCA recently adopted its Vision 2030 strategy, where meaningful work represents one of four pillars. Internal research proved that the ability to find meaningful and sustained employment is a major concern of young people — and that’s why it’s on the agenda, explained Carlos Sanvee, secretary general of World YMCA.