Youth Livelihoods

Ready to work. Civically engaged. Future proof.

ChildFund connects young people with the skills, opportunities, financial tools and enabling systems they need to earn a dignified living and contribute to their communities.

Young people ages 15–24 face disproportionately high unemployment, underemployment and exclusion from formal economic systems. Yet skills training alone is not enough: Without access to real job opportunities, financial services and enabling policy environments, training does not translate to sustainable income. That's the gap ChildFund closes.

With nearly 150 local partner organizations, we work alongside young people and the employers, institutions and systems around them to build pathways from training to decent, sustained income.

ChildFund’s youth livelihoods programs operate across four interconnected areas:

• strengthening the policy and market conditions that create opportunity for young people
• building the market-relevant skills, both technical and soft, and providing the support they need to enter and stay in the workforce
• connecting job-ready youth to real employment and entrepreneurship
• linking them to financial tools, information and services and building their skills to navigate these with confidence

Our youth-centered approach brings together young people, families, communities, governments and the private sector to ensure that youth are prepared for decent work, able to access real economic opportunities, and supported within systems that are inclusive, responsive and sustainable.