At GRET, we are convinced that young people deserve our support. Although they account for a significant proportion of the population, particularly in South-East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the conditions necessary for their successful integration are not always in place. There are many obstacles: difficulties accessing training and decent employment, limited autonomy in their family units and a lack of recognition in the public sphere.
Development organisations have been conducting actions to provide solutions to these issues for several years now. How to enable young people to become actors in the sustainable development of their territories? GRET is contributing to meet this challenge through the JADE programme, which is supported by AFD and which started in 2020. Rather than remaining limited to the classic “career guidance-training-integration” continuum, GRET takes an “overall” approach, encompassing social, civic, environmental and climate dimensions.
What is overall integration?
Overall integration is a process through which a person integrates and questions the norms, values and requirements of the society and the territory in which they live, are recognised and act. This integration takes place within a multidimensional dynamic, which gives each person the capacity to have an economic role giving them agency over their financial empowerment, a social role in which they are actively involved in civil society, and an environmental and climatic role through which they contribute to ecological transition.
An initial experimental phase
The first phase of the programme, which ended in 2023, focused on fine-tuning the principles of a youth integration strategy, identifying major challenges, developing appropriate support methods, and drawing up a definition of overall integration that could be shared by all.
Through 11 projects conducted in six countries (Guinea, Haiti, Mauritania, Mali, Republic of Congo and Senegal), GRET’s teams and their partners helped 11,000 young people, half of whom were women, to enter employment. In addition, 5,681 young people were made aware of the other dimensions of integration so that they could express their opinion in public or have room to manoeuvre within their families in order to decide on their future, and contribute to responses to environmental and climate issues, an area that is a source of employment for young people.
Act II: geographical expansion and inclusion of new subject areas
The second phase of the JADE programme, which will last until 2026, intends to further develop the overall approach and extend it to four new countries: Madagascar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. Drawing on lessons learned during the first phase, the project teams will roll out various training and integration schemes for around 2,300 young people. These schemes will be adapted to local labour market needs and ecological transition objectives.
In parallel, the programme is strengthening 31 career guidance, training and integration systems in the various countries adopting the overall approach. 9,107 young people will be informed and made aware of a range of cross-cutting subjects related to issues in their territory. The programme will also be supporting 46 associations and youth groups to carry out social and ecological initiatives.
One such initiative in Forest Guinea is supporting civic action in favour of the environment. Another, focusing on youth entrepreneurship in collaboration with 5 chambers of commerce Senegal, received support from the programme for its work with 500 young people. In Myanmar, actions are underway to create new trades in the renewable energies sector.
GRET will continue to develop its focus on young people, and will incorporate this subject area in the organisation itself and in its other projects.