As new opportunities emerge to measure innovative job creation solutions in the region, Silatech, through its partnership with the Youth Employment Network, the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) and the Jacobs Foundation, has launched Taqeem Fund for impact evaluation in August 2011. Taqeem Fund will help the short-listed group of small-medium sized organizations to better monitor and measure, and effectively report on their programs’ impact to a broader community of policymakers, practitioners and funders through the use of cost-effective, mass-market technology-based tools.
Silatech’s chief executive, Dr. Tarik Yousef, said in a statement: “Based on the premise that no single organization by itself can address the daunting youth employment challenge, Silatech supports the creation of Taqeem Fund to help smaller organizations in the region effectively contribute to the region’s understanding of ‘what works’ in youth employment and enterprise creation.”
Dr. Yousef added: “Through this initiative, Silatech and members of Taqeem Fund will help local organizations increase the impact and visibility of their youth employment interventions.”
The shortlisted organizations that represent local and regional NGOs as well as national chapters of regional and international NGOs are:
Egypt
1. Better World Foundation
2. Ebtessama Foundation
3. Egypt ICT Trust Fund
Jordan
4. International Youth Foundation
5. INJAZ Jordan
6. Jordan River Foundation
Kuwait
7. LoYAC for Private Training and Consulting Company
Lebanon
8. Safadi Foundation
Morocco
9. Education for Employment Foundation Morocco
10. MEDA Maroc
Palestine
11. SPARK
Saudi Arabia
12. The Centennial Fund
Somalia
13. Help Leads to Hope
Yemen
14. Youth Leadership Development Foundation
15. Al-Amal Microfinance Bank
Through a further competitive process, the Fund will run a workshop in Geneva for the fifteen shortlisted organizations and select only ten organizations to support in designing and testing appropriate, efficient and innovative monitoring and evaluation solutions for their initiatives.
Justin Sykes, social innovation manager at Silatech, said about the project: “The ten organizations who will be selected to participate in this initiative will receive up to $40,000 of in-kind and grant-based technical assistance to design and test appropriate, efficient and innovative monitoring and evaluation solutions for their youth employment programming. Selected organizations will also benefit from participation in two capacity building workshops this year, and have opportunities to interact with a broad range of policymakers, practitioners and donors, as they develop their plans and start effectively proving their impact.”
Ms. Susana Puerto-Gonzalez, manager at YEN, said in a statement: “YEN relishes the opportunity to contribute to building the evidence base for effective youth employment programming and policy making in the Middle East and North Africa through the Taqeem initiative. Building the skills and experience of local organizations to measure the impact of their programs represents an important step towards building a society based on the principles of transparency and participation.”
Dr. Bernd Ebersold, chief executive of the Jacobs Foundation, said: “At Jacobs Foundation, we are looking back on many years of experience in funding programs in the field of youth development and we are especially interested in evidence-based findings. Therefore, we are delighted to be partners with YEN, Silatech and 3ie on the Taqeem initiative.”
He added: “We hope this initiative will help organizations working for youth employment to better monitor their programs, establish best practice standards and successfully communicate them to partners such as donors or beneficiaries.”
END
Media Contacts:
Tarek Kassar,
Manager of Communications and Outreach, Silatech
Tel: +974.4499.4827
Mobile: +974.3367.1239
Email: tkassar@ silatech.com
About Silatech:
Silatech is an innovative social enterprise, established to address the critical and growing need to create jobs and economic opportunities for young people. The initiative promotes large-scale job creation, entrepreneurship, and access to capital and markets for young people, starting first in the Arab world, where the highest rate of youth unemployment exists. Silatech was founded in January 2008 by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser with broad support from other regional and international leaders.
For more information, please visit: http://www.silatech.com
About the Jacobs Foundation:
The Zurich-based private Jacobs Foundation was established in 1988 by entrepreneur Klaus J. Jacobs. Ever since, the Foundation has focused its efforts on the development of children and youth. Today it has many decades of experience in the funding of science and specific intervention programs and their implementation in this field. The Foundation provides funding and support worldwide and has an annual funding budget amounting to approximately CHF 35 million. The Foundation deploys an approach of child and youth development, which puts special emphasis on the positive development opportunities for young people. As far as its methods and approaches are concerned, it is particularly committed to scientific excellence and evidence-based findings. With its investment of EUR 200 million in the Jacobs University Bremen (2006), it sets new standards in the area of private funding.
For more information, please visit: www.jacobsfoundation.org
About Youth Employment Network:
Youth Employment Network (YEN) is a partnership of the UN, ILO and the World Bank set up after the Millennium Summit in 2001 to find new and durable solutions to the youth employment challenge. The network is a global platform whose goal is to prioritize youth employment on the development agenda and to exchange knowledge on effective policies and programs to improve employment opportunities for youth. It is a service provider focusing on policy advice, innovative pilot projects, knowledge sharing, and brokering partnerships. YEN makes use of its core agency partners’ know-how and resources, and ensures youth participation in delivering its services.
For more information, please visit: www.ilo.org/
