In response to growing numbers of unemployed youth in Latin America and the Caribbean, IYF and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank have joined forces to help train up to 12,000 of the region’s disadvantaged youth and help them find jobs. The US$25 million program, entra 21, is co-financing youth employment projects in information technology (IT) through grants that support training and job placement. A premium is placed on capturing and distributing important lessons learned.

The alliance is intended to build a bridge between labor market needs and youth whose interests and capabilities make them ideal candidates to fill the information technology skills gap. Lucent Technologies and Microsoft are among the first corporate partners of the program. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has invested $3 million over three years in the initiative.

Grants will be awarded to up to 35 locally conceived and executed projects, and 11 projects are already underway. For example, in Bolivia, 600 young people will be trained to help nonprofits in rural and urban communities link up with a new nationwide telecommunications network system. In Colombia, 500 young people will gain technical competencies that are in demand by local employers. And in the Dominican Republic, entra 21 will help 360 disadvantaged youth gain the technical and personal skills they need to qualify for jobs being created in the city of Santiago.

For further information, click here

Success Story
To read how entra21 positively impacted the life of 21-year-old Ruth Dary Ortiz, in Cartagena, Columbia click here

To learn more about IYF's Youth Employment initiatives click here.