Pilot-project launch

Through a strong focus on job connection and entrepreneurship, YEEL is leading a new four-year programme aimed at reducing youth unemployment among Somaliland’s marginalised groups.

The project, which is fully supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aims to help young women and men find work while simultaneously providing them with the tools, skills and financial support needed to establish their own small businesses.
Many national and international organisations including public and private partners are throwing their weight behind the project. Our supporting local partners are SONYO, Siraad Initiative, Iftiin Foundation, iRise, PDRC and 5 community committees. Our main public partners are Somaliland’s National Displacement and Refugees Agency (NDRA) and Somaliland’s Ministry of Employment, Social Affairs and Family (MESAF) and Chamber of Commerce.

The specific objectives in the 1 year pilot-project are:

1. To conduct research in the inception phase that provides a solid baseline, maps initiatives/stakeholders (i.e. gaps, opportunities etc.), engages partners and guides future scale-up interventions (outcome 1)

2. To train, empower, mentor and support 50 youth from the DACs to either find a job or establish viable small-scale businesses (outcome 2).

3. To capacity build and support 5 local community committees in increasing their organisational and strategic capacity in order to accomplish a strong collective advocacy program that support youth development and influence decision-making processes. (outcome 3).

4. To establish and connect the youth to cross-community network that increases their social cohesion and interaction while strengthening their self-organisation and future activism capacity (outcome 4).