Bogota – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, in collaboration with the Telefónica Foundation, the Citi Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the Employability and Digital Entrepreneurship Project (eeD) on 12 February.

The project aims to increase economic inclusion opportunities for 600 adolescents and young people in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) sector, and to accompany 360 others in the development of other vocations in the Colombian cities of Barranquilla, Buenaventura, Cali, Medellín, Pasto, and Tumaco. 

The project targets young people between ages 17 and 26, at risk of being linked to forms of urban violence and/or belonging to Afro-Colombian or indigenous communities. It will be developed over two years to promote participation in small and medium enterprises connecting these young people to the ICT labour market. 
Adolescents and youth between ages 14 and 28 in Colombia represent 32 per cent of the working-age population, according to the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), and over the last decade have consistently experienced an unemployment rate above the national rate. 

“We believe in youth, in their entrepreneurial potential, in their creativity, in their ability to move the world, and we admire their ability to face challenges and seek opportunities. That is why we support training spaces like this one, and are convinced that education is the best value proposition. Now, it is imperative that we eliminate gender gaps, between urban and rural sectors, or gaps that the armed conflict has left us, among others,” said Fabián Hernández, CEO of Telefónica Colombia. 

“Employability and Digital Entrepreneurship is a project co-funded with resources from the Citi Foundation in the framework of the Pathways to Progress global initiative to build an entrepreneurial mentality, acquire skills for financial leadership, and for the beginning of their working life and entering the formal economy through a first job,”said Jimena Botero, Vice President of Public Affairs of Citi Colombia and the Andean Region.

Likewise, the Great Comprehensive Household Survey, carried out by DANE between September and November of 2017, indicates that, in Colombia, one in every six young people do not have a job: the youth unemployment rate is 15.4 per cent. Of the total unemployed young people, 44 per cent are men and 56 per cent women, with a marked difference between large cities and the rest of the country, especially those areas most affected by violence.

“Working with this population and offering them opportunities to build life projects away from such violence is essential for territorial peace building. This motivates the participation of two USAID programmes: Reintegration and Prevention of Recruitment (RPR) and Inclusion for Peace (IPA),” said Ana Durán, IOM Colombia Chief of Mission.

“This is an opportunity for prevention efforts and greater quality and relevance to help adolescents and young people develop and strengthen their capacities and generate well-being for themselves, their families and their communities,” Durán concluded.

For more information, please contact Karen Mora, IOM Colombia, Tel. + (57) 1 639 7777, Email: kmora@iom.int.