ALGIERS, Algeria, May 19. The participation of the private sector alone is not enough to solve the youth employment crisis, Kevin Frey, CEO of the Generation Unlimited, said at the Islamic Development Forum (IsDB) 13th Youth Development Forum as part of the IsDB Annual Meetings in Algiers, Trend reports.
According to Frey, to solve the youth employment crisis, private sector participation alone is not enough - a comprehensive approach based on partnership between all stakeholders is needed.
"We in fact need to be demand-led, but the private sector alone can't solve the issue," he stressed.
Frey introduced the Generation Unlimited initiative as a new form of partnership, differing from traditional models.
"We're a public-private youth partnership, so a PPYP. And that means youth are at the table co-creating with us," the CEO explained.
He added that Generation Unlimited operates under the auspices of the UN and brings together the private sector, governments, international financial institutions, civil society, and youth to create scalable programs to train and employ young people.
I report to a board where we literally bring some of the CEOs of the world's largest companies. The chair of the board is the CEO of SAP, Christian Klein, who is Europe's most valuable company. Capgemini, Mohamed Kande, PwC, sitting at the table with us, other executives, Microsoft, Accenture, heads of UN agencies. And then bringing together ministers as well with young people with one goal in mind, to create massively scalable programs to skill young people and place them in jobs," Frey said.
He also pointed out that currently Generation Unlimited is operating in 57 countries and actively replicate PPYP at the national level.
"We engage the private sector because they know what skills are needed and they can train them effectively - they train their own employees. We then implement this knowledge through public systems to achieve scale and sustainability.
We set an audacious goal for ourselves. 20 million young people certified and trained in digital and AI skills. By 2030, we already have 5 million across 8 countries, and we're scaling," Frey noted, adding that the only way to address the problem of youth unemployment is joint work at the international level.
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