The Challenge

There is an urgent need to generate quality jobs for youth in the Middle East and Africa. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s population is young, growing, increasingly well-educated but underemployed. Youth under the age of 25 constitute half of the population and youth unemployment rates currently stand over 30%. In Sub-Saharan Africa, youth under 25 constitute 60% of the population and across Africa, 15 to 20 million increasingly young people are expected to join the workforce every year for the next three decades. 

Young women face additional barriers to finding and retaining decent employment. Globally, women earn on average 24% less than men, but in Sub-Saharan Africa, this figure surges to 30% less. In North Africa and the Arab States, youth unemployment among women reaches 44% – almost twice that of men%. 

Key Dates

4th of March:

Deadline to send clarifying questions (online) or request for one on one sessions*.

8th of March:

Responses to clarifying questions will be available on the Challenge Fund website

15th of March:

Submission of Business Case 5 pm CET

7th of May:

Latest date selected candidates will be informed and due diligence process will start.

* Requests for one on one sessions can be made alongside proof that eligibility requirements 3 to 6 as set out in Appendix I are met by the prospective applicant by sending an email to sem@cfye.nl. 

Call for Solutions

Small and Growing Businesses are important to create jobs for youth. Intermediaries play an important role to build systems and mechanisms that will continue to create jobs for young women and men. CFYE is looking to partner with organisations that have on-the-ground presence to directly work with Small and Growing Businesses, will continue to exist after the end of the CFYE programme and have the potential to scale.  

Objectives 

The objectives of this thematic call are: 

• To scale initiatives that successfully create decent job opportunities for youth in countries of its current operation and/or replicate the model in other countries. Through this call we intend to work with 1 to 4 implementing partners that generate decent employment opportunities for 15,000 for youth of which at least half for women;  
• To design or strengthen mechanisms that will exist beyond the duration of CFYE that anchor employment outcomes in the business case of locally operating Small and Growing Businesses; and, 
• To contribute to CFYE’s learning and innovation agenda which includes the following themes: 1) defining, enhancing and measuring DECENT jobs, 2) demonstrating the business case of decent jobs, and 3) the future of work in terms of green jobs. We are also interested to learn more on interventions that contribute to the employment ecosystem. See Appendix II of the TOR for more details. 

To meet these objectives, CFYE wishes to collaborate with experienced intermediaries with a strong local presence and proven capacity to work with Small and Growing Businesses. Proposed activities need to take place in at least 2 CFYE countries.