Qatar-based Silatech and Arab Gulf Programme for Development (Agfund) have started a new partnership that will expand the funding of the European Union (EU)-financed project focusing on enhancing the socioeconomic empowerment and resilience building of youth in Yemen.
The Support to Youth Entrepreneurship and Financial Inclusion II project comes as a successful continuation of a previously implemented EU-funded project, which generated over 30,000 employment and self-employment opportunities for young Yemeni women and men, a statement said Monday.
The collaboration agreement was signed by Agfund executive director Dr Nasser Bakr Alkahtani and Silatech's CEO Hassan al-Mulla on the sidelines of the recent Qatar Economic Forum.
Agfund president Prince Abdul Aziz bin Talal al-Saud, Qatar Ministry of Finance's deputy undersecretary for economic affairs Saud al-Attiyah and Qatar representative on Agfund board Mohsen al-Bahili were present.
The project, funded by the EU, aims to empower economically more than 50,000 young women and men in different governorates of Yemen. The four-year project will establish a grant-funding scheme for youth-led and owned enterprises and provide capacity-building to young entrepreneurs to generate employment, income, and financial inclusion.
The second phase of the partnership will concentrate on green economy principles, including equitable distribution of opportunities and outcomes, financial inclusion, provision of innovative services through digital solutions, and women empowerment through support for youth-led Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.
It is hoped that the project will contribute towards supporting Yemen's youth and breaking the vicious cycle of poverty and unemployment that plagues the country. With this collaboration, the partners are committed to ensuring the successful outcomes of the project and are looking forward to transforming the lives of the youth in Yemen through social cohesion, community development, economic uplifting, and peacebuilding, the statement added.
