DATE: Wednesday, March 30
TIME: 17:30 pm – 19:30 pm
LOCATION: St. Paul’s university, Guigues Hall, 223 Main street, Room 1124, Guigues Amphitheater
- Opening remarks
- Addressing Africa’s youth employment challenge. Talk by : Ms. MarthaMelesse, Senior Program Specialist, IDRC, and Professor Gordon Betcherman, School of International Development and Global Studies
Youth employment is one of the most pressing challenges facing sub-Saharan Africa. The continent’s youth cohort will swell by about six million each year for the next decade. If these young people are given skills and opportunities, SSA can enjoy the benefits of a demographic dividend. But if prospects don’t improve, social and economic consequences will be serious. This session will review the main findings from a new IDRC project that studies the trends, opportunities, and challenges associated with youth employment in sub-Saharan Africa.
Biographies :
Martha Melesse is a Senior Program Specialist with the Employment and Growth Program where her work currently focuses on youth employment and entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa. She spearheaded a 10-country research initiative on youth entrepreneurship which led to the publication of Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs: Unlocking the Potential for a Brighter Future (2015). Since joining IDRC in 1993, she has worked in various programs covering issues of poverty, trade policy, social policy, and health systems. Martha holds a Ph.D. in public policy from Carleton University in Ottawa with specialization on health financing reform. She also holds a graduate diploma in international development and co-operation from the University of Ottawa and an MBA from the United States International University.
Gordon Betcherman is a Professor in the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. His research interests are in labor economics, demography, social policy, and the economics of development. His most recent publications are on the impacts of labor market regulation in developing countries, youth employment in sub-Saharan Africa, and poverty trends in Vietnamese fishing villages. Dr. Betcherman was a co-author of the World Bank’s 2013 World Development Report on Jobs. He is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Labor Studies (IZA) in Germany. He joined the University of Ottawa in 2009 after 11 years at the World Bank. Dr. Betcherman holds a PhD from the University of California at Los Angeles.
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