Promoting Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Inclusive Growth and a New Urban Agenda

Cities have become younger – most of the three billion people under the age of twenty-five live in urban areas, and it is estimated that 60% of urban populations will be under the age of 18 by 2030. Majority of these youth live in poor countries that are struggling to meet the rapidly growing demand for jobs and income-earning opportunities for the millions of youth who are approaching working age. The lack of opportunities forces most young people to migrate from urban areas to pursue better opportunities, but often end up settling in informal settlements characterized by inadequate access to basic services, infrastructure; poor structural quality of housing; overcrowding, high levels of poverty and unemployment. Young people in cities/informal settlements have shown tremendous resilience and ability to not just survive but to create wealth; investing in youth therefore offers both economic and social benefits needed for social change, economic inclusion and the New Urban Agenda hence their inclusion is very important. Young people have the capacity to tackle the current urban challenges and develop innovative solutions needed for the New Urban Agenda. This side event will throw light on the capacity of urban areas to drive innovations and create jobs for young people and the catalytic role youth themselves can play in this. The session will be a moderated discussion of representatives from the private sector, governments, and youth serving organizations and young Innovators and entrepreneurs who have developed innovations and set up enterprises creating employment for young people in the cities. The panelists will discuss how they set up their innovative businesses and share their on how they have navigated the challenges of funding, organizing, collaborating and scaling innovations. A few successful youth innovations and enterprises will be presented to showcase the ideas of young innovators and entrepreneurs.