1. Moldova Youth Socio-Economic Empowerment project JSDF project (replaced LIL) Counterpart: The Department for Youth and Sports, Moldova Partners: UNICEF-Moldova, Commercial banks By Carine Clert (TTL), Social Development specialist ECSSD SD days march 31

2. 1. Why youth and who among them? Rationale Teenagers and young adults (14-25) fall between the cracks e.g sectoral education and health (e.g. HIV) e.g rural finance, due to young adults’ difficulty to secure collateral and lack of trust of financial institutions e.g. our demand-driven operations focus on organized groups or community-based associations, yet those groups do not necessarily include youth voices

3. As a result, the economic, social and political resources that youth offer are at-best underutilized or wasted: - massive youth migration and brain-drain - exposure to human rights abuse (trafficking) - engagement in illegal activities and violence. Who within the youth? In Moldova, youth from rural and small towns face economic, social and political exclusion A gender lens must be clearly incorporated Youth children with insufficient parental supervision (due to parents’ migration)

4. 2. EXPECTED OUTCOMES to ensure that targeted youth (14-30) from poor/vulnerable rural and peri-urban households in participating local areas will adopt positive economic/social practices and reduce risky behaviors in response to an integrated and inclusive package of youth-oriented services and opportunities

5. Positive economic practices= youth investing in skills and assets leading to better self-employment opportunities (wage employment is not addressed in JSDF – it was in the LIL which got cancelled). Positive social practices = youth using assets, safe spaces and opportunities which will help them: (a)cope with or avoid risky behaviors (substance abuse, violence, illegal migration with exposure to exploitation) (vulnerability) (b) participate actively in the design and implementation of activities which can make a positive contribution to their own problems and to those of their communities. (empowerment)

6. 3. APPROACH AND TOOLS Overall: In a Stand-alone operation, integrated and regional approach so as to address the multidimensionality of youth exclusion and foster their full empowerment  entails developing partnerships between different service providers and synergies between three inter-related types of interventions in selected regions:

7. (a) “ social ” approach i.e. support to initiatives for promoting youth empowerment and reducing their vulnerability ( compo. 1) (b) economic approach, creating enabling conditions for facilitating access of youth to skills and assets leading to better economic participation ENTREPRENEURSHIP; (compo. 2) (c) institutional approach, developing the capacity of a network of government and civil society partners to address youth exclusion in an integrated manner at both national and local levels

8. 4. Social approach: Specific tools/examples The social approach builds on a network of youth centers (UNICEF-co-financing) and on a CDD/demand-driven type of approach for innovative service delivery. -> competitive grants program for youth-serving civil society and community-based associations to promote their creative initiatives for youth’s socio-economic inclusion and empowerment (increased social capital and participation in decision-making).

9. How to help young adults (18-30) in the creation and financing of self- employment opportunities ? Challenges: Financial institutions tend not to lend to young people who suffer from a lack of clear business plan and lack of collateral. Youth in Moldova lack information, self- esteem and entrepreneurial models 5. Promoting youth entrepreneurship:

10. The project addresses these issues by: 1. (i) providing awareness-raising and outreach through youth centers and spaces (synergies) 2. (ii) business training; assisting in the design and implementation of a business plan; 3. (iii) rewarding the best candidates with some equity building grant; 4. (iv) linking the target population to the formal financial sector.