Global Opportunity Youth Network Case Studies: Innovative Approaches to Address Youth Unemployment in Brazil and India
The Global Opportunity Youth Network is a multi-stakeholder initiative hosted at The Aspen Institute and managed in partnership with GDI. GOYN is committed to catalyzing place-based systems shifts in communities — cities and rural districts — around the world through the creation of sustainable economic opportunities for “Opportunity Youth,” (OY) aged 15-29 who are out of school, unemployed or underemployed. Created in 2018, GOYN’s current network is comprised of sixteen communities across India, Latin America, and Africa. GOYN recently published two short case studies highlighting innovative approaches to address youth unemployment being deployed by communities in the network. These case studies were developed by GDI with the generous support of Catholic Relief Services.
The first case study, GOYN São Paulo: Working with Employers to Build More Inclusive Workplaces for OY (February 2024), details the multifaceted employer engagement strategy developed by GOYN São Paulo to promote greater inclusion of Opportunity Youth in the labor market.
GOYN started working in São Paulo in 2020 in partnership with United Way Brazil, a leading local non-profit focused on youth and early childhood development. There are an estimated 765,000 Opportunity Youth in São Paulo, making it one of the largest GOYN communities. Many of these young people are concentrated in the “territories,” peripheral areas east and south of the city that are underserved by public services and have low levels of formal economic activity.
Working closely with GOYN Global Partner Accenture, GOYN São Paulo (which has been operating under the local brand Juventudes Potentes since January 2023) mapped the entire youth employment ecosystem in the city and conducted in-depth research to identify the systemic issues preventing young people from accessing opportunities. This research highlighted the lack of connections between employers and Opportunity Youth in the territories as a structural barrier in the ecosystem. This case study details the strategy designed and implemented by GOYN São Paulo to help overcome this barrier, including GOYN’s collaboration with the Great Place to Work Institute and an innovative ‘social immersion’ experience for C-level executives that aims to change their perceptions of Opportunity Youth.
The second case study, GOYN Ramgarh/Barwani: Connecting Rural Youth to Opportunities: The Critical Role of Youth Hubs (March 2024), focuses on the ‘Youth Hub’ model implemented by GOYN’s partner in rural India, Transform Rural India Foundation (TRI).
GOYN started working in rural India in partnership with TRI in 2020. TRI is a leading local non-profit with deep experience creating sustainable models of empowerment and economic development for rural communities. TRI first launched GOYN in the Ramgarh district (Jharkhand) in 2020, before replicating the approach in the Barwani district (Madhya Pradesh) in 2021. Together, the two districts represent a population of over 550,000 Opportunity Youth.
In both Ramgarh and Barwani, TRI established phygital (digitally-enabled physical spaces) Youth Hubs to support the implementation of the GOYN approach, working in close partnership with local government stakeholders. This case study details the critical role that these Youth Hubs play in connecting rural Indian youth to services and opportunities in their communities. Youth Hubs provide safe and welcoming spaces for youth to receive information, career counseling, and access to training and employment opportunities. TRI’s Youth Hubs have been particularly successful in connecting young people in rural areas to income-generating opportunities.