Making Cents International's

• HIV/AIDS is decimating the knowledge and skill base in many communities, leaving young entrepreneurs without traditional mentorship and apprenticeship opportunities.  The number of youth-headed households and orphans is steadily increasing. The majority of those infected by HIV & AIDS is under 25.
• Conflict and war are similarly disrupting formal and traditional learning systems, and are causing high numbers of youth-headed households and orphaned children.  In addition, unemployed youth are increasingly vulnerable to recruitment into armies and terrorist movements.
• In many rural and poverty-stricken areas, youth with limited opportunities are drawn into quick-return, environmentally-destructive activities, such as charcoal burning or forest clearing, in order to find new land to farm.
• In urban areas, youth who have grown up in economically-depressed households or as homeless children often resort to illegal entrepreneurial activities, such as drug trading, theft, human trafficking, and violent crime. Many are also susceptible to becoming involved in youth gangs. 
• Young women, with few economic alternatives, are vulnerable to sexual exploitation, human trafficking and early pregnancy.
• Youth unemployment is on the rise. In many parts of the world, youth are about 3 times as likely as adults to be unemployed. The ILO estimates that at least 400 million new jobs will have to be created to take advantage of the productive potential of today’s youth population.

Quick Facts Related to Adolescent Girls and Young Women:

* "Poverty compels many young women to seek employment in the informal sector, where they are channeled towards a narrow range of low-skilled jobs characterized by minimal pay, long hours, and unequal power relations that often lead to exploitation." Levine, R., Lloyd, C., Green, M., & Grown, C. (2008) Girls Count: A global investment and action agenda.

* "For developing countries as a whole, 34 percent of young women are estimated to be "jobless" - unemployed, out of the labor force, and not in school. There are several gender-specific supply- and demand-side determinants of low employment rates and earnings among young women, including girls' disproportionate share of unpaid domestic labor, lack of productive skills and contacts to help with a job search, limited life skills, opposition from family or male partners, and employer preference for hiring young men over young women in a range of industries and occupations." Katz, E. (2008). Programs promoting young women's employment: What works? The World Bank's Adolescent Girls Initiative.

* "The global workforce in 2007 was 200 million women stronger than a decade earlier. The 1.2 billion women in the paid labor force now comprise nearly half (46 percent) of the global workforce. Although a growing share of women have waged work, a significant proportion still are self-employed, mainly in micro or small businesses that yield low and irregular income. This is particularly the case in developing countries, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa, where fewer than 2 out of 10 women receive a formal wage." International Center for Research on Women. "One Woman = One Business: Why Business and Management Education is Essential to Economic Development." 2008.

Conference Overview and History

Making Cents International's Global Youth Enterprise & Livelihoods Development Conference provides a demand-driven and participatory learning space where members of all sectors can share information on programs, methodologies, strategies and tools; network to build partnerships; gain new technical capacity; and help build the youth enterprise, employment and livelihoods development field. 

Why Should You Attend the 2010 Global Youth Enterprise & Livelihoods Development Conference?

Making Cents International invites members of all sectors to participate in this learning event and to:

• Network face-to-face with the people whose proactive work, actionable ideas, and cross-sectoral innovative tools and strategies are revolutionizing the lives of youth entrepreneurs, while building their employability, entrepreneurship, life, and financial skills.
•  Explore strategies to successfully partner with the private sector, including multinational corporations, small businesses and microfinance institutions.
• Learn from innovators who have creatively developed livelihoods programs to reach vulnerable youth in challenging environments, and from others who have effectively placed themselves at the intersection of health and enterprise development for youth.
• Take advantage of the many opportunities built into the program to engage with policymakers, youth, leaders of the private sector, and other professionals who are similarly committed to reducing the poverty, vulnerability, and unemployment that plagues many of the world's youth.
• Learn how organizations are mainstreaming entrepreneurship and financial education into school systems.
• Display their products and shared their organization's best practices in the exhibits hall.
• Demonstrate their leadership by sponsoring this unique event.

For more information, frequently asked questions.

Contact Info Global Youth Enterprise & Livelihoods Development Conference Making Cents International 1155 30th Street, NW, Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20007 U.S.A. Email: gye2010.8m@blumail.org Conference Organizer and Advisory Committee  Conference Organizer – Making Cents International Making Cents International :- is a social enterprise based in Washington, D.C. that provides specialized technical services and curriculum to individuals and organizations working in enterprise development. We build and strengthen the youth enterprise and livelihoods sector by creating learning opportunities and networks, which result in stronger partnerships, programs, and policies that support young entrepreneurs.  Since 1999, Making Cents has increased the capacity of more than 4,000 organizations and business service providers in over 40 countries so they can equip youth and adults with the vision, confidence, tools, and skills they need to create and grow their own businesses.  We are committed to building a legacy of skills and economic opportunity at the individual, community, and global level. The idea for the Global Youth Enterprise & Livelihoods Development Conference came from our conviction that bringing experienced and novice youth enterprise, employment and livelihoods development practitioners and supporters together, along with other professionals interested in supporting youth in this manner, would result in increasing knowledge and a more developed youth enterprise, employment and livelihoods development field. Making Cents believes strongly in the importance of building a global community that focuses on these issues in order to ensure programs and policies have greater impact, and can be more sustainable and brought to scale. In collaboration with a Global Advisory Committee and dozens of other organizations, Making Cents develops a lhighly interactive and demand-driven earning agenda that focuses on lessons learned, promising practices, and innovative ideas. It is truly a learning event by you and for you, and we welcome your feedback. 2010 Global Advisory Committee Members   Academy for Educational Development Ashoka/Youth Venture  BRAC CHF International   Children Incorporated Educational Development Center (EDC) Fundacion E  Fundacion Paraguaya Girls Helping Girls Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship, University of the Pacific _____________________________________ International Youth Foundation   ImagineNations Group Inter-American Development Bank's IDB YOUTH Program International Labour Organization ____________________________________ International Rescue Committee Junior Achievement Worldwide  MEDA PLAN International Population Council  Private Education Development Network RTI International  Save the Children UNICEF U.S. Agency for International Development The World Bank  Youth Business International