Youth unemployment is a global crisis. According to the ILO (International Labour Organization), there are 73 million young people worldwide looking for work and young people are three times more likely to be out of work than adults. This reality demonstrates the need for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent work and economic growth.
At its peak, one in five young people in the UK were not in education, employment or training (NEET as they are labeled). Despite billion pounds of UK Government and European funding, the number of NEETs in the UK is only falling slightly; some flagship programshave failed to see any significant return on investment.
Youth unemployment and in particular long-term unemployment has extensive implications: not only do high levels of youth unemployment affect the productivity of a country and reduce the skills of the workforce, the cost emotional and socially for those young people who experience youth unemployment is hugely significant.
Youth Employment UK CIC was set up in 2012 in response to the high levels of youth unemployment and underemployment. At its heart, Youth Employment UK recognized the need to give young people a voice on the biggest issue facing them post education. Typically, government and organizations that invest in youth employment issues, programs and services do so without any consultation with young people. Youth Employment UK believes that this model does not work and seeks to empower young people to take their place at these "grown-up" discussions.
Furthermore, Youth Employment UK has created a Membership Community that encourages collaboration and sharing of best practices in the youth-employment space. It is normal to see organizations with similar funding streams not share their practice and reinvent wheels at the cost of the service user. Youth Employment UK asks its members to share and support each other so that a greater impact can be had on youth unemployment.
A key to the success of Youth Employment UK has been the development of its volunteer Youth Ambassador programme, a program that supports young people who have been affected or are invested in the issue of youth unemployment. The Youth Ambassadors have created hundreds of articles on the topics of youth employment, which are used to support and inspire other young people. They have also spoken and represented the views of young people in Parliament, with government departments and at national conferences, as well as worked in their local community to help their peers in more practical ways.
Not only are the Ambassadors making a difference to youth unemployment by breaking down barriers and providing an essential Youth Voice, they are also developing their own skills and experiences, which have started to see them move themselves from unemployment into employment.
The Ambassador Programme is scalable and currently expanding with the ambition to put a team of Youth Ambassadors into every region of the UK to ensure the constant inclusion of young people in the fight against youth unemployment.
Youth Employment UK and its Ambassadors believe in the need of a youth-friendly UK and a youth-friendly world. Without a change in the behavior of companies and of policy makers, there is a great risk of another generation being scarred by youth unemployment.
This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post, "What's Working: Sustainable Development Goals," in conjunction with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The proposed set of milestones will be the subject of discussion at the UN General Assembly meeting on Sept. 25-27, 2015 in New York. The goals, which will replace the UN's Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015), cover 17 key areas of development -- including poverty, hunger, health, education, and gender equality, among many others. As part of The Huffington Post's commitment to solutions-oriented journalism, this What's Working SDG blog series will focus on one goal every weekday in September. This post addresses Goal 8.