The Trust for the Americas presents posters at the opening of the Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit

Washington, DC. - The Trust for the Americas, for the second year in a row, is sharing best practices of two of its most successful projects at the annual Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit (GYEO) which convenes more than 550 technical experts from 60+ countries committed to advancing the social and economic well-being of young people globally. This year the GYEO Summit took place on the Silver Spring Civic Center in Washington DC, on October 2-4, 2019.

The GYEO Summit agenda is supported by four interconnected technical tracks designed to support learning for our community. The agenda also includes cross-cutting topics on: systems-change and policy; scale; technology; gender; conflict; migration; climate and environment; rural development and agriculture; and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MERL).   

The Trust exposed a poster highlighting the technology and MERL components of our project  POETA YouthSpark: Empowering youth in LATAM through digital skills¨. Since 2012, POETA YouthSpark has empowered more than 34,000 young people through a comprehensive training that promote technical, digital and life skills, all key to thriving in an increasingly competitive educational and work environment. With the support of local partners based in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic, POETA YouthSpark has managed to get about 50 percent of our trained youth to obtain an educational or economic opportunity, whether it is access to education, internships, employment or entrepreneurship projects.

“We are proud to present The Trust for the Americas work in partnership with Microsoft Philanthropies through our POETA YouthSpark project” said Pierina Nepote, project manager at the Trust for the Americas. “Through a network of 60 POETA technology centers, our project has opened doors to more than 200,000 visits from people who have benefited from spaces equipped with technology, academic resources, and mentoring to bring them closer to the technology of the 21st century.”

The second posted exposed the gender and up-skilling components of our VIVE Project: Come, be inspired, & Sell! Enhancing opportunities for Mexican women to learn, earn, and thrive. This project has reached more than forty-five thousand women who discovered their hidden skills, are economically independent, and have become agents of change in their families and communities. More than 50 percent are encouraged to pursue entrepreneurial projects, and more than ten thousand have secured income opportunities through VIVE.

“VIVE project is an excellent example of how through the development of technical skills, for life and self-knowledge, women find tools to be more independent and happy”, stated VIVE project manager, Maria Fernanda Sierra “This is key to reducing the economic opportunity gap, which according to the latest SGDS report is persistent (55% women's labor participation vs. 94% of men, UN Women 2019). Today we want to share with you more of this path of the VIVE Project and join forces with other partners to reach more Latin American countries with this successful model.”

The Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit gathers some of the most prestigious changemakers, innovators, and organizations from the development and educational field such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, George Washington University, The White House Office of the Chief Technology Officer, and many others including The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)  giving lectures on getting employment to work for self-reliance.

Check out the posters on VIVE and POETA YouthSpark or visit our website for more information on our projects.

About The Trust for the Americas: 

The Trust for the Americas is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with the Organization of American States (OAS). It was established in 1997 to promote public and private sector participation in social and economic development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our initiatives, implemented through local partner organizations, seek to improve access to economic opportunities as well as to foster innovation in vulnerable communities in the hemisphere. To this end, The Trust also promotes social inclusion and good governance. The Trust has offices in Washington, D.C., Colombia, and Canada.

For more information: www.trustfortheamericas.org

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