©UNDP Pakistan
Youth Empowerment
Programme
More than 31% of Pakistanis are aged between 15
and 29 years. This ‘youth bulge’ provides unique
opportunities for the country’s social and economic
uplift whereby the latent potential of young people
can be harnessed by providing openings for growth
and personal development. Unfortunately, lack of
youth focussed development in Pakistan has made
young people vulnerable to violence and conflict, a
situation exacerbated by the volatile security
situation in the country.
UNDP Pakistan has responded to these
developments by initiating the Youth Empowerment
Programme, a multi-pronged strategy that aims at
creating a facilitating environment for youth in
conflict affected areas of Sindh, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to emerge as agents
For more information: www.pk.undp.org
United Nations Development Programme
4th Floor, Serena Business Complex
Tel: +92 51 835 5600
Fax: +92 51 265 5014
Khayaban-e-Suharwardy, G-5/1, Islamabad, Pakistan
QUICK FACTS
Duration: 2015-2018 (YSCP); 2015-2018 (YEP), 2016-2020
(KPEDP and BEDP)
Implementing partners: Department of Home and Tribal
Affairs, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Department of Planning and
Development (Sindh), Sindh TEVTA, and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and
Management Company (KPEZMC) (BEDP and KPEDP)
Location: D.I. Khan and Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(YSCP); Karachi (Sindh); Balochistan (BEDP), and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPEDP).
Funding partners: Royal Norwegian Embassy, UNTFHS,
UNDP, Telenor Pakistan (YSCP); USAID (YEP)
Annual Total budget 2017: USD 668,348
Focal point: Ms. Laura Sheridan, Programme Adviser,
Crisis Prevention and Recovery Unit, UNDP Pakistan
laura.sheridan@undp.org
April 2017
 Crisis Prevention and Recovery
UNDP Youth Empowerment Programme

of positive change and development. The • Youth’s resilience to involvement in violence

programme has four main components. and conflict strengthened through informed
decision making, community mobilization,
The Youth and Social Cohesion Project (YSCP) aims skills development, small scale infrastructural
at reducing youth’s vulnerability to involvement in support, and sports and recreational
violence and conflict through a number of activities in target villages of D.I. Khan and
interventions based on informed decision making, Bannu, benefitting more than 100,000
community mobilization, skills development, small people (YSCP).
scale infrastructural support, and establishment of • Meet the demand for skilled labour in five
multi-function community centres that serve as key KP and Balochistan industries, resulting
nodes of village level cultural and recreational in a five percent increase in output and the
activities involving youth. creation of 25,000 additional jobs (20,000 in
KP, 5,000 in Balochistan) for youth (BEDP and
The Youth Employment Project (YEP) is facilitating
KPEDP).
youth in conflict affected areas of Karachi to gain
employment in the city’s garment industry through • Help 70 youth-led start-ups become
skills training, capacity development of (garment) functional in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and
industry trainers, and research studies on attitudes Balochistan, each employing at least 10
towards and triggers of violence and conflict among individuals (BEDP and KPEDP).
youth in Karachi.
Where we work
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Development
Programme (KPEDP) and the Balochistan Economic
Development Programme (BEDP) (2016-2020) work
closely on enhancing industrial productivity and
supporting growth, and dovetail the Youth
Employment Project by linking industrial demand to
technical training and education provided to youth
across conflict-affected areas of the two provinces.
Objectives
• To develop youth’s resilience against
involvement in violence and conflict in strife
affected areas of Southern Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa through informed decision © UNDP Pakistan
making, community mobilization, small scale
infrastructural support and promotion of
cultural and recreational activities.
• To develop youth’s resilience against
involvement in armed conflict in vulnerable
areas of Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and
Balochistan by facilitating their employment
in relevant industries through skills
development, capacity building of industry
trainers and research supported informed
decision making.
Expected results
• More than 13,000 youth from Karachi trained
and engaged in demand driven employment
in the industrial (including garments
industry) and other relevant sectors (YEP).

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