The $64.9 million MARKETS II project facilitated business partnerships between smallholder farmers and end-buyers in the processing segment of seven value chains. Complementing MARKETS II’s key strategy was its requirement that 50 percent of participants be women and 30 percent of participants be youth, along with its decision to reduce land-size requirements to increase inclusion and…
The Moldova Competitiveness Project (MCP) invested in a multi-channel digital marketing campaign, #BeOurGuest, which focused on attracting visitors to Moldova’s rural areas. More visitors result in more jobs in hospitality, providing a valuable alternative to migration for the thousands of rural women who leave the country each year. The project created a campaign inviting youth…
The Moldova Competitiveness Project (MCP), funded by USAID and Sweden, invests in targeted design, technology, and business-knowledge training for workers in the fashion industry. The project addresses education gaps and equips workers with creative and technical skills to increase the competitiveness of businesses. Through MCP, OldCom, a Moldovan shoe company, not only employs but improves…
The Moldova Competitiveness Project (MCP) SMART program (Streamline Manufacturing, Accountability, Resource efficiency and Transparency) supports large factories to assess risks, enhance productivity, and improve occupational health and safety. This results in more jobs, good working conditions, and salaries up to twice the national average for the thousands of women these factories employ. This is significant…
Iulian Gulea, a Young Moldovan programmer, came across the issue of how employers were struggling to connect youth with jobs, and vice versa. From that problem emerged the idea for an app that he developed with recruitment expert Eugeniu Girla, combining their expertise to create their startup GAUS. This app leverages Moldova’s expertise in Artificial…
Svetlana Arabadji, director and owner of the RiDiager apparel company based in Comrat, Gagauzia, envisioned her business as a good quality workplace providing decent salaries for rural women. This in turn would result in strong returns for her business: quality production with a lower turnover of seamstresses, and higher productivity. This vision is in alignment with the USAID- and Sweden-funded Moldova Competitiveness Project’s (MCP) strategy to enhance the…
Getting the global economy on track to reap a demographic dividend, create prosperity, protect the planet, and eliminate extreme poverty will be difficult unless governments, international donors, businesses, and practitioners work together to harness the economic aspirations of youth. A recent study by the International Labour Organization shows that 13.6 percent of youth, or more…
Across the world, 13.6 percent of youth are unemployed and almost 20 percent, or 260 million, are out of school. For those who manage to find a job, a staggering 17.1 percent still live below the extreme poverty threshold. The truth is that there are still too many young people who lack the education, skills,…
International Youth Day is a day that celebrates the role of young men and women as powerful agents of change and critical partners in advancing global development. This is a day that calls upon governments, communities, civil society, and the private sector to empower youth, ensure they always have a seat at the table, and…
Implemented by Chemonics International, with local subcontractor Junior Achievement Georgia (JAG), the $12,565,635, six-and-a-half year Georgia Primary Education (G-PriEd) Project provided comprehensive assistance to the Georgian primary education system to improve reading and math competencies of Georgian and ethnic minority students in grades 1-6 and to introduce financial literacy through exposure to business skills.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the Asia and Middle East Economic Growth Best Practices (AMEG) project in 2013. A five-year initiative with a shared ceiling of $69 million, AMEG enabled technical support teams in USAID’s Asia and Middle East bureaus to collaborate with USAID missions and operating units to identify and…
This activity was one of four winners of Chemonics’ recent Market Systems and Youth Enterprise Development Innovation Contest within the youth enterprise track. This post originally appeared on Marketlinks. When thousands of youth are migrating abroad to seek better employment opportunities, how do you provide a viable economic alternative to encourage them to stay, develop their skills,…