New Placement added!

Change Fusion has a placement opportunity in Bangkok starting from January/February 2010. Please check Placements for further information.

Youth SEEN – Promotional Video

Confirmed Research Placements!

Youth SEEN is proud to announce that we now have 3 confirmed possibilities for students to conduct research in the field of youth entrepreneurship and self employment. The 3 placements are as follows:

1. YIKE (Nairobi, Kenya)

Youth Initiatives Kenya is a NGO that works with youth in groups that are engaged in entrepreneurship. YIKE offers trainings in different aspects of entrepreneurship.

As an organization, YIKE has done research in several areas. In addition YIKE has connections with the Kenyatta University and will be able to link the students to local supervisors. YIKE offers some concrete research placements

Currently YIKE has a specific interest in the following areas:

• A study to understand if entrepreneurial youth groups are reducing crime in some parts of Eastlands informal settlements.
• How can youth groups mainstream a gender balance in their entrepreneurs?

Other research subject of interest can be discussed with the students.

2. YITA (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)

Youth Initiatives Tanzania is a duplication in Dar es Salaam of the successful YIKE program. The initial research about possibilities for UpToYouToo in this city was conducted by a former IDS student. This research left some gaps however.

Currently YITA has a specific interest in the following areas:

• More in-depth research on the mentality of Tanzanian youth & specifically those who are engaged in entrepreneurship.
• If the youth who are engaged in groups have a bigger change to succeed as entrepreneurs.
• What is the influence of the financial institutions (such as banks, MFI’s, SACCOS’) on youth that operate in self-employment groups.
• Gain insights in the lack of trust from youth towards their community/stake holders in their entrepreneurial environment and the other way around.
• What is the impact of the YITA program on youth in Dar es Salaam.

Other research subject of interest can be discussed with the students.

3. Desk Research (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Besides the research positions in the field, the UpToYouToo foundation also offers a desk research placement (in Amsterdam). The student will be involved in mapping the existing research on the subject of youth entrepreneurship as well as identifying gaps within this literature and opportunities for further research. Furthermore the student will identify best practices, compare these and identify common grounds that will help the Youth SEEN members further.

New Placements soon

Apart from the three mentioned, further research placements will be finalised in the coming months from other Youth SEEN members. Once these have been confirmed further information will be published.

AIESEC

We have reached an agreement with AIESEC in Amsterdam for them to become involved in Youth SEEN. AIESEC, with their vast international network, will help facilitate students who will want to conduct research abroad at one of the members of Youth SEEN. The AIESEC network includes 35,000 students in 107 countries and different territories. At this momenty it is present in over 1700 universities globally, and sends students on 5500 international exchanges yearly.

11 organisations onboard!

11 organisations have officially confirmed their involvement within Youth SEEN. Commitments and contributions from some remaining organisations are still ongoing and more information on the official contributions will be provided by the first week of July 2009. The 11 organisations that have confirmed their involvement are:

UpToYouToo Foundation

YIKE -Youth Initatives Kenya

Peace Child International

UnLtd

Making Cents International

YES Rwanda

YES Jordan

Spark

BSC Kosovo

Change Fusion

Branson School of Entrepreneurship

Conference Report Online

The report from the Youth SEEN Conference held on 25th of May 2009 has been posted online under the tab Youth SEEN Event. A big thank you to those that attended!

After very fruitful partnership talks which took place between the organisations involved the following days after the event, we are currently in the process of formalising the Youth SEEN network in a manner that will benefit Masters students, the organisations involved and of course the field of youth entrepreneurship and self employment itself. Keep checking this site for further updates on the progress of the network.

For any further questions please do not hesitate to leave a comment or contact us at: lobby@uptoyoutoo.org.

Programme & Afterparty Information

New updated information on the day programme and the location have been posted online. For more information please check the Youth SEEN Event tab.

See you on May 25th!

Youth SEEN Event (25.05.2009)

The UpToYouToo Foundation and Spark are organising a one day conference in Amsterdam to create a space where NGO’s, students, experts and interested parties can come together and share information regarding the important issue of youth self employment and entrepreneurship.

Space will be given for all guests to pose questions to experts and take an active part in discussions, debates and information sharing.

Updates on the confirmed speakers, the day plan and the location of the afterparty will posted on this site in due course under the tab Youth Seen Event and will also be emailed to all registrants. Keep checking to stay informed about this event.

See you on the 25th of May!

Information

Date

• Monday 25th May 2009

Location

• Vondelkerk, Vondelstraat 120, Amsterdam

Time

• 10.00hrs – 17.00hrs (at Vondelkerk)
• 17.00hrs – 20.00hrs (afterparty)

Entrance

• Free (pre- registration is preferred, please see information below)

Registration

If you would like to be present at the conference please send an email with your name and, if applicable, the name of your university, employer or organisation to lobby@uptoyoutoo.org.

Youth Seen Project

The Youth SEEN (Self Employment & Entrepreneurship Network) project is an initiative that has been set-up by the UpToYouToo Foundation based in Amsterdam. By involving NGO’s active in the field of youth entrepreneurship who are willing to highlight topics and area’s of youth entrepreneurship that may need to be developed, we can then create a research project using the talents of various masters students in the Netherlands, to conduct this research whilst at the same time creating a mapping of the existing resources that have been created.

By then utilising this new academic research, linking it to existing research, we aim to create a certain step plan or value chain that will make it easier for all actors in the field, to undertake, support and facilitate youth entrepreneurship in developing countries where youth unemployment and access to the formal job market is a massive problem.

Please read the following pages to gain an insight into how we feel this can be achieved and feel free to leave comments (please do leave your name and if applicable, the organisation you are part of).

Lets make it happen!