Standard Chartered Foundation

We are delighted to be working with Standard Chartered Foundation on a two-year partnership to support the Futuremakers initiative.

Together we will support more than 4,000 young people in seven countries to receive crucial support and training to find long-term work. The countries where this work will take place are:

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Why are we working in partnership?

The work we’re doing

An estimated 267 million young people worldwide are not in employment, education or training, according to a recent report by the International Labour Organization. Young people leaving alternative care are disproportionately affected by the global youth employment crisis because they have fewer opportunities to get training even as they are required to be financially independent at an earlier age than their peers growing up with their parents.

The COVID-19 pandemic has only made this situation more difficult for young people around the world, particularly for young people with disabilities and young women. In Côte d’Ivoire, employment in those groups has fallen by 5% and 8.7% respectively (ILO, 2020).

In Jordan, young care leavers face discrimination and stigma, which creates barriers to accessing training and employment. In addition, the unemployment rate for young people has reached over 47.9%.

In Mauritius, 57% of young women are unemployed. In Sri Lanka, the youth unemployment rate in 2020 was 20% (ILO). Young people and care leavers are the worst hit by the pandemic as they have experienced job losses, wage cuts and a lack of adequate skills to secure employment in the changing nature of the job market in the COVID-19 era.

The Standard Chartered Foundation saw the expertise that SOS Children’s Villages has in leading youth employability projects around the world, and saw the potential to build this capacity at a critical time for the world, in the aftermath of the global pandemic.

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Over two years we will reach over 4,300 young people across the seven countries. Together, we will achieve economic inclusion for young people by supporting them in their transition to independent living focusing on their employability and entrepreneurship skills.

Taking a holistic approach we will support young people to develop their vocational, entrepreneurship and digital skills to enable them to be competitive in the employment market. We’ll provide support to develop their resilience and confidence as they move to independence.

We will also deliver a cross-country digital mentoring and training programme across all seven countries, starting in the Philippines, where the digital divide is particularly evident.

Standard Chartered employees will be able to support this project through offering short sessions on topics such as career inspiration, CV-writing skills, interview preparation, financial management and ICT skills for young people through one to one mentoring and one-off group training exercises.

Five countries – Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, the Philippines, South Africa and Sri Lanka – will be using YouthLinks, SOS Children’s Villages global digital platform as part of YouthCan!, which is the federation’s global partnership for youth employability. It empowers young people who have lost or are at risk of losing parental care by supporting their transition to independence and decent work. In 2020, it reached 6,500 young people in 37 countries.

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