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About the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment

Goal

The Fund aims to create a prosperous future for 230,000 young women and men in the Middle East, North Africa, Sahel & West Africa and Horn of Africa. This will be achieved by supporting youth employment initiatives in these regions. Initiatives will offer youth, particularly young women, opportunities for decent work that delivers better prospects for personal development, is productive, and offers a stable income, social protection and safe working conditions.

How does it work?

Private sector, civil society and knowledge institutions will be invited to submit proposals for initiatives to address specific challenges framed around creating scalable solutions for more and better jobs for youth. Solutions will be built around integrated approaches designed to bridge the mismatch between the demand for high quality jobs and the supply of skilled labour. They will be aligned with aspirations of young women and men in the regions.

Support

Technical support will be available for applicants throughout the process. The Fund Manager will organise physical and online information sessions for potential applicants. Interested parties are welcome to contact the Fund Manager to discuss ideas and seek guidance or support for concept note development. Once projects are selected for implementation, tailored technical support will also be made available to maximise delivery of results.

The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) is a 7-year programme funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Fund is managed by the Palladium Group, Randstad and VSO. 

Match

Match

Create

Create

Improve

Improve

How to apply?

Process of application

Twice a year the Fund will open a thematic call for concept notes whereby applicants are invited to submit their ideas for projects responding to a challenge in a specific country or region. The call for concept notes will be published on the website and through social media channels.

Once submitted, concept notes will be assessed by a panel of experts and youth representatives. Successful applicants will be invited to submit a full business case. This should describe the pathway to results, the budget and the financing strategy. On average, the contribution of the Challenge Fund will be one third of the total project budget.

Who can apply?

There are no restrictions to who can apply to the Fund. Ideas are invited from private sector organisations, civil society and knowledge institutions or from a consortium involving two or more partners. Regardless the status of the applicant, all concept notes and business cases will be assessed against the same criteria.

Since proposed initiatives should have a clear pathway to decent work for youth, both youth themselves and employers will be involved in the design of the project. All projects will need to report on their results and the financial contributions made by the Fund will be clearly linked to the achievement of those results.

In addition, the Fund is looking for sustainable and scalable initiatives implemented by partners who will be able to contribute on average two thirds of the total project budget.

News

Pathways to Employment: Paper 1

Pathways to Employment: Paper 1

Learning material Various Countries
Faatimah Clarke   June 10, 2026  
Labour markets across Africa and the Middle East are undergoing rapid transformation driven by digital technologies. However, sectors with the potential to scale rapidly, such as e-commerce, educational technology (EdTech), and IT services, often struggle to find talent. These digital sectors face a persistent mismatch between employer needs and the available talent pool. Addressing this challenge requires demand-driven approaches that not only equip young people with relevant skills but also ensure that training is directly connected to real job opportunities through structured pathways into employment. In this context, Platforms for Skills-Building have emerged as a promising model, providing technical and soft skills training, mentorship, and job matching services to prepare youth for two key job types: digitally enabled jobs (e.g. retail staff using point of sale systems) or digitally delivered jobs (e.g. online customer support)
Read More
Learning Brief: Localisation as a Driver of Results: Lessons from CFYE Country Portfolios

Learning Brief: Localisation as a Driver of Results: Lessons from CFYE Country Portfolios

Learning material Various Countries
Faatimah Clarke   June 8, 2026  
Counting jobs sounds straightforward until you try to define what a “job” actually is, and how it has come about. CFYE works across both the supply and demand sides of the labour market, supporting business growth, training and matching youth into roles, intermediary-led finance and business development, and youth entrepreneurship. The resulting jobs vary widely in duration, formality, and quality, making it difficult to apply a single definition or measurement approach. This brief draws on CFYE’s experience of defining and measuring jobs in practice. It unpacks the trade-offs involved in balancing rigour, feasibility, and comparability, and shares lessons for programmes navigating similar choices across varied labour markets and delivery models.
Read More
Learning Brief: Defining and Measuring Jobs: CFYE’s Approach in Capturing Programme Outcomes

Learning Brief: Defining and Measuring Jobs: CFYE’s Approach in Capturing Programme Outcomes

Learning material Various Countries
Faatimah Clarke   May 26, 2026  
Counting jobs sounds straightforward until you try to define what a “job” actually is, and how it has come about. CFYE works across both the supply and demand sides of the labour market, supporting business growth, training and matching youth into roles, intermediary-led finance and business development, and youth entrepreneurship. The resulting jobs vary widely in duration, formality, and quality, making it difficult to apply a single definition or measurement approach. This brief draws on CFYE’s experience of defining and measuring jobs in practice. It unpacks the trade-offs involved in balancing rigour, feasibility, and comparability, and shares lessons for programmes navigating similar choices across varied labour markets and delivery models.
Read More
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