Prince’s Trust International joins the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth

Prince’s Trust International has just joined the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs For Youth in the thematic priority areas ‘Green jobs for youth’ and ‘Youth entrepreneurship and self-employment’. The organisation commits to creating pathways into decent and green careers for young people aged 15-35 coming from low-income backgrounds.

Prince’s Trust International was founded in 2015 by King Charles III, formerly The Prince of Wales, to tackle the global crisis of youth unemployment. The organisation’s mission is to empower young people to learn, work and thrive, and now works with local partners to deliver programmes in 18 countries. The commitment specifically focuses on young people from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Jordan, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, India, Pakistan, and Greece.

With 14 different partners joining the commitment, from April 2022 to March 2025 Prince’s Trust International will support in total 33,021 young people (min. 50% female) through employment and entrepreneurship programmes, with a focus on the green economy. Funding has a mix of government, corporate, and philanthropic sources.

Prince’s Trust International programmes equip young people with necessary skills and knowledge and provide them with opportunities to move into employment or self-employment, including within green sectors. Such skills include technical and vocation skills, ICT skills and soft skills such a communication, teamwork, problem solving, digital skills and confidence.

The organisation embeds sustainability and green jobs across programmes, with over 55% of the programmes in the commitment focusing on the green economy. Indeed, according to the report on young people’s attitudes towards the future of work, 73% of young people are interested in working in the green economy while 75% have an interest in starting their own business.

When it comes to creating businesses and supporting entrepreneurship, the Enterprise Challenge programme includes green modules, which inspire young people to create green businesses and support young people at business launch stage to make their businesses more sustainable. As a result, it is expect at least 200 green businesses to be created.

Prince’s Trust International and partners will contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals SDG5 (Gender Equality), SDG8 (Decent work and economic growth) and SDG13 (Climate Action) through its commitment.

The Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Decent Jobs for Youth was launched in 2016 as a UN system-wide effort, focusing on the youth employment challenge that is central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It has emerged as a global, multi-stakeholder initiative that brings together governments, social partners, the private sector, youth and civil society organizations, and others. They work together to share knowledge, leverage resources and take action at country and regional level, to support young people in accessing decent work and productive employment worldwide.