Skills and work

When girls, boys, women and men are empowered with skills they need for decent working life, they thrive. They can support themselves, their families and communities.

Download our Economic Empowerment Policy Brief

Two thirds of the world’s 1.2 billion young people lack essential skills, limiting their job prospects and pushing them into low-quality work. 1 in 5 are currently neither in employment, education or training, a rate that has steadily risen over the past 17 years.

Investing in sectors like green, digital, creative and care economies could create 139 million new jobs by 2030, with over 30 million of these jobs filled by young people.

Plan International works to remove the barriers that prevent youth from participating in the labour market, and create an enabling and safe environment where young people can thrive. Our programmes are tailored to equipping young people with relevant skills and actively engaged in decent work of their choosing, either waged or self-employed.

We equip young people, especially women, with market-driven employability skills, financial literacy, transferable life skills, business and entrepreneurial skills. We provide peer-to-peer mentoring, career counselling, vocational training and job matching and placements to support their participation into decent work.