Challenge
South Sudan is the youngest country in the world, in terms of its independence and its population, of which an estimated 72% are under 30 years old. Protracted crises, including conflict and climate-related flooding and severe drought, have forcibly displaced millions of people, impeded social service delivery, and weakened community cohesion. Youth continue to suffer from limited access to education and livelihoods opportunities.
The EDC-implemented USAID Youth Empowerment Activity aims to improve access to functional skills so that youth can lead healthier lives, generate an income, and contribute to the social cohesion of their communities. To support this, the activity will model leadership and peer mentorship that strengthens positive youth development and youth-responsive service supports.
Key Activities
The USAID Youth Empowerment Activity is implementing the following activities:
- Strengthening the capacity of national and local youth-led and youth-serving organizations to support greater youth-responsive services at state, county, payam, and boma levels
- Establishing a Youth Corps Service Model, led by 500 youth leaders who support their peers in developing functional literacy, numeracy, and soft and life skills, thereby promoting social cohesion and reinforcing mentorship within and across communities
- Building stakeholder engagement that strengthens enabling environments, reinforces local ownership, and ensures sustainability of best practices
- Integrating gender equity and social inclusion in all interventions to create supportive, enabling, and transformative environments for diverse youth populations to achieve their potential
Impact
- 25,000 youth access learning, soft, and life skills development, including sexual and reproductive health, resilience, and social-emotional well-being support
- 7,850 youth access entrepreneurial, employment, vocational, and work-based learning opportunities
- 17,500 youth receive technical support to improve agro-pastoral practices
- 100,000 youth access sexual and reproductive health information and receive positive gender norms messaging
- 23,100 youth participate in civic engagement and social cohesion activities
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PROJECT DIRECTOR
DURATION
FUNDED BY
PARTNERS
Search for Common Ground, Nile Hope, Mobile Humanitarian Agency, Women’s Advancement Organization, Luol Deng Foundation, African Wildlife Foundation, We Care Solar