YEE - Amplifying Enterprises and Trade

SNV is implementing the second phase of the Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship—Amplifying Enterprises and Trade (YEE-AET) project in Zambia and Zimbabwe from May 2024 to April 2028. YEE-AET builds on the successes of the Opportunities for Youth Employment (OYE) project, the first phase of which was implemented from May 2019 to December 2023.

Funded by SDC, Sida Harare, Sida Lusaka, and Irish Aid Lusaka, the project aims to equip 33,100 youth with employment and entrepreneurship skills and match 23,000 young people to economic opportunities. The YEE initiative will strengthen its approach by addressing structural barriers, offering tailored support, and promoting collaboration among community, private sector, and government stakeholders to create dignified livelihoods for young people.

The project aims to unlock economic opportunities in agriculture, clean energy, and green/circular jobs. This will be accomplished by tackling barriers related to skill gaps (pathway 1), market readiness (pathway 2), and an enabling environment (pathway 3).

The goals are defined as follows:

1. Equip 33,100 young women and men with employment and entrepreneurship skills (13,000 in Zimbabwe and 20,100 in Zambia).

2. Connect 23,000 young people to economic opportunities in their communities through market development and enhanced financial inclusion.

3. Contribute to and foster an enabling environment for youth economic opportunities through partnerships between the private and public sectors, community and household engagement, improved government coordination and implementation, and influencing the change of negative norms.

For the project, the priorities and key approaches will be:

• Increased outreach, targeted partnerships, and private sector engagement.

• Stronger emphasis on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in communities, addressing systemic barriers.

• Deeper impact in districts with a focus on community and household levels.

• Streamlined value chain selection for opportunity identification.

• Graduated model for growth-oriented, youth-led enterprises.

• Enhanced access to finance.

• Digitalisation encompassing delivery, YSLA, market linkages, digital marketing skills, and expanded markets including export and bilateral trade opportunities.

• Improved skills development curriculum alongside digitalisation.

• Climate resilience through training and enterprise initiatives.

• Focus on rural-peri-urban-urban linkages with a food systems approach.

Zambia: Eastern Province, Northern Province, Southern Province, Central Province, Northwestern Province and Copperbelt Province, covering 22 districts in Zambia.

Zimbabwe: Manicaland, Mashonaland East, Harare, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South.

The project's primary target group comprises rural and peri-urban youth who demonstrate commitment and drive to improve their economic prospects, as well as a desire for empowerment and capacity building through training. These young individuals are primarily out of school, unemployed, underprivileged, residing in the project area, and possessing a low level of education. To identify promising youth who will partake in this initiative, SNV will collaborate closely with local authorities and relevant government departments.