- Kenya - the National Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop and Kenya Green Skills and Opportunities Alliance: In Kenya, UNEP in partnership with Jacob’s Ladder Africa and the Government of Kenya, organized the National Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop in May 2024 bringing together over 1,000 participants, including young people and youth-led organisations, government officials, academia, private sector representatives, and development partners. The workshop was a result of many consultations and yielded several significant commitments for the country, including enhanced Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions and higher education collaboration, advocacy for policy reforms, industry partnerships, among others. Currently in Final stages of developing the Platform that will host the central repository and members of the Alliance.
- United Nations Development Account project around Strengthening Policies and Capacities for Green Jobs for Youth in Africa and the Caribbean: Senegal, Cuba and Madagascar will be benefitting from this project in 2025-2026 with at least 60 policymakers trained to formulate and implement youth employment policies fostering green jobs for youth in high impact sectors. The following activities will be implemented:
- 1x National Assessment with multi-stakeholder participation, assessing the potential for green jobs for youth with a focus on gender, climate action and circularity
- 1x Technical workshop for policy makers to strengthen capacities on youth employment themes in high impact sectors.
- 2x Inter-ministerial, inter-generational and multi-stakeholder roundtables including young people on green jobs for youth to accelerate climate action and Circularity.
- 1x Training of Trainers with representatives of education, private, public and youth institutions employers to enhance institutional strength for multi stakeholder partnerships on green jobs in high impact sectors.
- Green Rising: At COP28, UNICEF, Generation Unlimited and partners across sectors launched the Green Rising initiative to support 10 million young people by 2026 to take action for the environment and help power their vision of a fair and sustainable world. Less than 1 year in, the initiative is tracking ahead of ambition, as we’re witnessing young people working alongside our institutions protecting biodiversity, conserving water, reducing waste, and transitioning to clean energy.
- Accelerator programmes in Africa, Asia Pacific and West Asia, training over 150 young entrepreneurs, including women.
- UNICEF's BeGreen and EKYAN programs, as well as ILO's SIYB trainings, have equipped over 10,000 individuals with green skills and supported more than 1,500 young entrepreneurs in establishing sustainable businesses, including those in the often-overlooked blue economy sector.
