YouthConnekt Hangout: Creating mobile application to address socialeconomic problems Commonwealth e-government Summit, Kigali 25th March 2015
Context Rwanda s Vision 2020: Population dependent on low productive and low paid agricultural activities 80% 50% by 2020 Creation of off farm jobs (200,000 Off farm jobs/year) 64% of Rwandans are below 35 Low unemployment but high underemployment EDPRS 2 (2013-2018) : Productivity and Youth Employment = One of the 4 key thematic areas of the EDPRS-2. 4 Priority Areas for Productivity and Youth Employment Skills and Attitudes Technology and ICT Labour Market Interventions Entrepreneurship and Business Development UNDAP (2013-2018): Aligned to Government s priorities (EDPRS2 and Vision 2020) 2
Context Youth and Women Employment Programme: One UN Rwanda joint programme Support the GoR to create off-farm jobs for Youth and Women Support to YouthConnekt one of the key activities Total estimated budget: USD 28,232,646 Programme Budget: 26,385,650 Start/end dates: June 2014 to June 2018 Participating UN agencies: 12 Implementing Partners: 6 (7 Ministries + PSF) 3
YouthConnekt Youth Connekt: Virtual platform connecting youth with leaders (public, private, etc.) to forge partnerships to provide employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to youth (Internships, courses, mentorships, job advertisements, business competitions, etc.). Connects young people to role models, resources, knowledge and skills development Platform is supported through a website www.youthconnekt.rw, social media (Facebook and Twitter) and bimonthly Google hangouts.
Capacity Development Partnerships Communication YouthConnekt Build capacity among the youth and among national and international institutions Facilitating multistakeholder processes that bring together business, government, financial sector and civil society for collective action to address youth employment Raise awareness through cuttingedge research, and outreach activities and campaigns, foster exchange of ideas and collaboration among researchers, inventors, entrepreneurs, investors and policy makers. 5
YouthConnekt Hangouts A series of Google+ Hangout debate sessions organized twice a month Channel for Youth, ICT players, etc. to contribute to the country development agenda through debates. 6
Youth Connekt Hangouts Different topics discussed including: Job creation for the youth, Raising capital Mobile applications, Civic participation, etc.. More than 300 youth participated at remote locations and thousands of people watch the debates online (Google+, Youtube) 7
Mobile App Competitions Miss Geek Competition Few girls in ICT + Stereotype about girls and ICT Encourage women to showcase their knowledge/skills in ICT ICT project Competition open to student girls working on ICT organized by Girls in ICT in partnership with MYICT and UNDP Financial support to develop prototypes Support in Training and Mentoring 8
Mobile App Competitions Motorola Mobile Application Competition Competition to stimulate mobile initiatives in 5 categories (Governance, Education, Health, Agriculture and Gender) 5 Winners Financial support to develop prototypes Support in Training and Mentoring 9
Mobile Application to Monitor Public Service Delivery Mobile App Competition for Public Service Delivery Public service delivery is linked to accountable governance and citizen participation Competition to develop mobile application that can be used by citizens to monitor and report the quality of services in public sector ICT project Competition organized by RGB, MYICT and the One UN in Rwanda. Partnership with Private Sector Selected teams will be working with technical teams of TIGO Think Hub and Pivot Access in Kigali 10
Conclusion Through all activities, about 125 young innovators were awarded, provided opportunities to hone entrepreneurship skills and received financial support to develop their project. It is estimated that this resulted in the creation of about 100 new companies and hundreds of new off farm jobs. 11
Moving forward with YouthConnekt Ensure the hangouts and the website are supported by social media and directly connecting youth to opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship Strengthen partnerships between YouthConnekt and Private Sector with a view to narrowing the gap between supply and demand in the labour market Continue to raise awareness of YouthConnekt through branding. Online presence is not enough, YouthConnekt also needs to connect to young people through face-to-face contacts (roadshows), radio and tv. Focus on innovation and technology 12
Thank you for your attention