LocationsGeorges van Montfort, UNDP Zimbabwe Resident Representative and Natalie Jabangwe, Founding Advisor IBUHUB
5 June 2020 – IBUHUB and UNDP Zimbabwe have signed a five- year partnership agreement which will enhance young people’s development through job placements, business incubation and skills training.
Zimbabwe, like the rest of the African continent has a high youth population with over 40% of its residents between the ages of 16 and 35. The coronavirus pandemic has caused an increase in unemployment in the country with young people being the most affected. During the MOU sigining, Anne Madzara, UNDP Team Leader of the Poverty Reduction, Environment and Climate Change Unit noted that in spite of the pandemic and current economic challenges, young people have an important role to play in the development of the country, but this can only be achieved if they are provided with the right support and opportunities.
The partnership between UNDP and IBUHUB will address youth unemployment by focusing on the following key areas:
- Job placement and skills development –young people’s chances to find employment will be increased by enhancing their formal employment skills.
- Early stage and expansion stage incubation – youth business ideas will be supported from the ideation through to commercialization stages through the IBUHUB growth model
- Design Lab –innovation will be encouraged through a design lab where young people will experiment with data innovation.
The IBUHUB and UNDP partnership will leverage work done during the Youth Connekt Virtual Start-Up Tour Bus competition which included the COVID19 Response this year. Through the partnership, this year’s top winners of the competition will receive funding and incubation for their businesses which have developed products and services to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus. Participants from both editions of the competition will also receive business incubation support.
IBUHUB is pan-African entrepreneurship innovation incubation hub which was incorporated in 2017.
Youth Connekt Zimbabwe is the UNDP’s flagship youth empowerment programme which is part of UNDP’s Youth Connekt Africa initiative. It is being implemented through a partnership which is led by the Ministry of Youth Arts and Recreation (MoYSAR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Zimbabwe
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For more information and media interviews, contact:
Anesu Freddy
Communications Associate, United Nations Development Programme
anesu.freddy@undp.org
