BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, (BIGD), in partnership with the University of Cambridge, LUMS, and Azim Premji University, organized a workshop on “Young people and Work in South Asia” as a part of a new initiative to scope a commission which will work to focus on the unheard voices of marginalized youth.
Work is critical to people’s lives, not only as a source of livelihood but also as providing a sense of identity and belonging social contact, and psychological well-being. It is not just about making a living. Young people want to make a contribution. They want to be respected in their communities.
The workshop brought together youths from different institutions who discussed the barriers that marginalized young people in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) face to accessing meaningful work. The World Bank estimates that 1 billion young people will enter the labour market in the next 10 years, but only 400 million of them are likely to find formal jobs. Nine-tenths of today’s 1.8 billion young people live in low and lower-middle-income countries.
