The partnerships addresses the challenge of youth unemployment as a contribution to the achievement of SDG 4,8 & 10 and by having a strong focus on innovative partnership building, it strengthens Goal 17. The Next Economy Programme aims to provide highly motivated, disadvantaged youth with the opportunity to develop skills, which will help them to find employment or start their own business. 4,200 youth will be inspired, educated, coached, and enabled to: 1) Start their own business, 2) Search for a decent job, or 3) Upscale a promising start-up leading to the overall objective of 1,700 youth entering decent employment.

All activities in The Next Economy Programme form a coherent whole in which youth are initially trained in key employee and entrepreneurial skills. Next, by means of a selection based on talent and ambition, it is determined whether the youth continues with activities that aim to establish a company or if alternative activities are offered and designed for finding decent work (Track 1). For further development, all promising start-ups go through a validation process for scaling up (Track 2). Finally, the business climate is enhanced by building the physical infrastructure, networking, and promoting positive images of local economic perspectives (Track 3). Track 1: Make it Work All youth entering the programme will go through four phases of training, preparing them either to become a successful entrepreneur or to become a successful and engaged employee in a company. During the first two phases of the training programme, youth build core life skills for employment and are able to translate their personal abilities into tangible opportunities within the labour market. After the general two preparatory phases, the youth either continue into the entrepreneurship programme in which they develop a start-up, or into the employability trajectory where they are prepared for the labour market through a guided internship programme. Track 2: Grow your business This program component comprehends the scaling up of existing promising start-ups, or start-ups emerged during Track 1 (Make it Work) to the next level in local Business labs by following a six- month Business Incubation Program. This will be achieved in collaboration with selected youth from SOS programs. As a result, entrepreneurs can deploy youth as an affordable workforce, and have them validate the products of service within their local network/market while these youth gain work experience. Track 3: Supersize the Valley of Opportunity Creating or strengthening the crucial entrepreneurship climate for establishing or expanding businesses, by strengthening the physical infrastructure, networks, and promotion of positive representation of local economic perspectives.

Taking an innovative approach towards promoting employment and entrepreneurship amongst youth, the Next Economy Programme is approaching the intervention as a pilot. Throughout the partnership, collaboration and exchange of best practices is actively taking place and continuously facilitating the capacity-building of both the local and international implementation teams. Monthly country-transcending meetings are initiated via teleconference to facilitate learning-by-doing. Lessons learned from within one country are captured and can be immediately applied in another programme location. Individual monitoring of all participants of the programme (both through personal coaching and a tracer-study) allow the programme teams to continually access data on the impact of the activities on the target population, which facilitates learning and steering of the programme intervention as well as a rich monitoring mechanism.

The Next Economy Programme is a partnership of SOS Childrens Villages (SOS CV), the 1% Club, Enviu, and Afrilabs. Combining particular expertise within the area of vulnerable youth, employability, entrepreneurship, and business development, all organisations jointly contribute to specific elements of the programme. The partnership is a unique combination of international and local organisations. Combining international expertise on entrepreneurship, start-ups, and youth employment, with the local network of business hubs (Afrilabs) and youth support organisations (SOS CV), embedding of international best practices into local contexts is secured. At the international level, the alliance of SOS CV The Netherlands, the 1% Club, and Enviu governs the programme implementation in the three programme countries, provide technical support to the local partners, and assures alignment of the separate programme components. At the national level, a country team of representatives from three local organisations is responsible for the day-to-day management of the programmes activities. Periodically (weekly or monthly), both the national and international programme teams discuss the status of progress of the activities and jointly identify solutions to observed challenges, building a body of knowledge that due to the right level of flexibility informs and improves the partnership constantly. Learning and exchange of best practices between all partners in the three programme countries is facilitated on an annual basis. During an international meeting, all partner organisations share expertise and lessons-learned which will subsequently feed into the new annual planning and improvement of the interventions at the national level. We believe that this face to face relationship as oppose to a reporting structure offers more long term and sustainable results for all parties involved, and fosters innovation and flexibility.

SOS Childrens Villages (SOS CV), the 1% Club, Enviu, and Afrilabs