Globally, governments, businesses, educational institutions, and civil society are now mobilizing to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Our World, Our Work builds upon this growing commitment to climate action while addressing the employment crisis facing so many of the world’s youth.

The stakes couldn’t be higher: 1.8 billion young people are poised to enter a rapidly shifting labor market shaped not just by climate impacts, but also rapidly evolving technologies and a global demographic shift, making them the largest youth population and workforce in history.

At EDC, we see the enormous opportunity for a just, more inclusive, green economic transition, offering the potential for employment creation, poverty alleviation, and a sustainable planet.

Our World, Our Work is EDC’s 10-year initiative to accelerate youth employment and self-employment in green and blue economies. Our goal is for 1 million young people (60% women) to be employed or self-employed in quality green and blue jobs over the next ten years.

Resources

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An overview of Our World, Our Work, a 10-year initiative, spearheaded by EDC, that seeks to accelerate youth employment and self-employment in the green and blue economies.
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A discussion paper highlighting the crucial role of youth in driving a just economic transition and accelerating climate change adaptation by connecting local initiatives with global commitments, policies, and financing mechanisms, offering a set of near-term actions that diverse partners can undertake to foster a youth-inclusive green economy at scale.
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A high-level overview detailing why we need a global coalition that brings together young people, governments, implementing organizations, the private sector, multilateral institutions, philanthropies, universities, and think tanks to ensure we resolve local and national gaps to best develop the human capital needed to power the green economy and deliver a just transition.
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Work Ready Now (WRN) is a versatile and modular skills curriculum designed to develop youth’s in-demand, transferable work readiness skills used in 28 countries and translated in 21 languages.
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Future Proof Skills is a comprehensive work-readiness and skills-development program designed for higher education students and graduates and will enable them to not only join the workforce, but to also thrive in any type of work environment.
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EDC, in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board and the Chief Skills Office, conducted a green labor market assessment to explore job opportunities for youth in sustainable agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and tourism. The report identified over 35,000 potential green jobs in these sectors, offering young people pathways to employment and entrepreneurship in the green economy.
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Focusing on eight key sectors, the report identifies sector trends, education and employment gaps, available job roles, and examines stakeholder dynamics.
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An overview of EDC’s capacity as a leading international organization working at the nexus of youth workforce development and employment, education, climate change adaptation, and the green economy in low- and middle-income countries.

Join Us

We know that we cannot solve these challenges alone. This work requires passionate and dedicated partners to share our mission and vision.

Join us by contacting us at OWOW@edc.org. And sign up for the EDC Update newsletter, where we’ll share analysis and insights from EDC experts, news updates about related work and research, and opportunities to partner with us.