WUSC at the 2024 Global Youth Economic Opportunities (GYEO) Summit: Disrupting Social Norms for Economic Inclusion

A WUSC delegation recently had the opportunity to participate in the annual GYEO Summit, hosted by Making Cents International in Washington, DC, from September 9-12, 2024. Bringing together more than 500 global stakeholders from 75+ countries, the Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit showcased innovative programming models such as public-private partnerships and AI, enabled evidence sharing around best practices particularly in youth-centered engagement strategies, and facilitated discussions among practitioners around emerging issues and opportunities for young people. Climate emerged as a key theme with important discussions around promoting  green jobs and entrepreneurship as a means to address climate change. 

The Summit was a valuable opportunity for our team to learn from leading organizations in the youth economic opportunities field while sharing our own expertise and best practices in key areas, including the meaningful direct engagement of young people with lived experience–  -refugees and displaced persons and refugee-led organizations (RLOs)– in economic empowerment programming  and the importance of tailoring messaging and delivery mechanisms in our work around social norms. 

WUSC’s contribution to the GYEO

In alignment with Gender Equality week in Canada, we’re releasing a new discussion paper, Engaging with Social Norms: The WUSC Experience. Launched at the GYEO Summit, this paper highlights the importance of addressing gender and age-based social norms and outlines strategies used in some of our projects  such as WE LEAD (supporting women in Jordan to enter the workforce in the health and childcare sectors), INVEST (focused on helping young women enter the trades in Ghana), and PASSERELLE (which addresses young women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights in Cote d’Ivoire). It also provides recommendations on best practices drawn from WUSC’s experience and that of other leaders in the field. 

WUSC also played an active role at the Summit by sponsoring the GYEO Youth Leadership Accelerator program and the participation of a delegation of young refugee youth to participate in the Summit from. Through the Youth Leadership Accelerator program, members of our  Youth Advisory Committee (YAC), who provide important strategic guidance to DREEM– our youth economic opportunities program for displaced communities – implemented in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation played an active role in the Summit. YAC members played a key role in shaping discussions about the importance of  youth leadership in the refugee sector – an important theme throughout the Summit . 

Additionally, WUSC’s Country Director, in Kenya,  Janice Bothello, moderated the closing plenary of the conference which focused on catalyzing youth economic opportunities with and for refugees. The session featured two members of the YAC, Solange Ingabire and Bior Ajak, who spoke directly to the challenges and opportunities for the economic inclusion of refugees and other displaced persons. Joined by representatives from Global Markets and the Conrad Hilton Foundation, the session highlighted the importance of trusting in and providing direct financial investment in Refugee-led organizations (RLOs) representing diverse perspectives to support effective and sustainable solutions as they know the context best.  

Disrupting Social Norms for Economic Inclusion

WUSC also hosted a session titled “Disrupting Social Norms for Economic Inclusion”, where we shared key insights from some of our programs. Case studies from our economic opportunities programming in Ghana and Jordan highlighted the importance of social norms as drivers of behavior in economic systems, impacting the paid and unpaid roles which young men and young women take on and at times reinforcing social inequalities. 

In Jordan, for example, cultural and social norms tend to place young women predominantly in the household, contributing to some of the lowest female labour force participation rates in the world. In Ghana, despite women’s active role in many sectors, they are largely excluded from more lucrative trade opportunities, as these are not viewed as appropriate career options for young women. 

This discussion is particularly timely for Canada’s Gender Equality Week (Sept 22-28), with this year’s theme – Unlocking Potential: Economic Power Through Gender Equality. The social norms work in both INVEST and WE LEAD was specifically focused on addressing gender-based norms which have a direct impact on women’s ability to engage in economic activities. Addressing these norms has helped unlock their economic potential and enhance empowerment, aligned with the goals of Gender Equality Week through these government of Canada- funded programs. 

Innovative Ways to Engage Youth  

Here are a few innovative practices for disrupting discriminatory gender and age-related social norms, that we have had success with in our programs:

• A TikTok dance challenge in Ghana: We targeted youth in Ghana to participate in the Invest in Her campaign under the INVEST project to support increased acceptance of women’s work in the trades. The campaign engaged three popular dance influencers in Ghana and was part of a youth-centered campaign led by local marketing firm Lyme Haus reaching over 239,000 people across Facebook and Twitter.

• Podcast series in Jordan: We produced a podcast that featured discussions about barriers to women’s employment in Jordan through the WE LEAD project that helped shift community attitudes, fostering a more inclusive environment for women’s careers. These initiatives have sparked engagement, not only from young women but also from parents, employers, and peer groups, creating ripple effects on community support, employer’s engagement, and peer motivation, that enhanced  women’s employment transition after graduating from training programs in targeted sectors of health and early childcare and development. While much work remains to be done in the challenging context in Jordan (where only 14% of women are engaged in the labour market nationally, despite high levels of education), WE LEAD showed measurable impact, with 35% of graduates from WE LEAD supported training programs having secured employment by the end of the project.  

Alongside our partners, we remain committed to supporting young people by amplifying their voices and driving transformative change. Together, we can unlock their potential, challenge inequalities and build a more inclusive and sustainable future for all.