The United Nations Human Settlements Programme :The UN-HABITAT Youth Fund 2012

The UN-HABITAT Youth Fund promotes the poverty reduction aims of Millennium Development Goals and the Habitat Agenda for better, more sustainable and equitable towns and cities throughout the developing world. It provides grants of up to $25,000 for new ideas and solutions for job creation, good governance, adequate shelter and secure tenure.

By undertaking research on best practices in youth-led development the fund will also create a greater awareness of the urgency to ensure that youth concerns are integrated into national and local development policies and strategies.

Applicant organizations must be led by young people aged 15-32 years and be based in cities or towns in developing countries to qualify for a grant. Support will be provided primarily for those working to improve slum conditions and to raise opportunities for young people growing up in poverty. Projects encouraging gender equality or involving partnerships with the government or the private sector are particularly encouraged.

Background

Globally, 85 percent of the world’s young people live in developing countries. An increasing number of these young people are growing up in cities. In many cities on the African continent, more than 70 per cent of inhabitants are under the age of 30. Young people, especially girls and women, are the most vulnerable to social problems caused by unemployment and poverty. With more than 200 million youth living in poverty globally, there is a clear need to meaningfully engage and support youth.

UN-HABITAT, which regards youth as a major force for a better world, supports young people in the drive to alleviate poverty. The Habitat Agenda commits governments and UN-HABITAT to work in partnership with youth and empower them to participate in decision-making in order to improve urban livelihoods and develop sustainable human settlements.

Governments which oversee UN-HABITAT in 2007 adopted a resolution to establish the UN-HABITAT Youth Fund. Its aims are to:

• Mobilise young people for better youth-related policy formulation.
• Help governments, non-governmental, civil society and private-sector organizations better understand and respond to youth concerns.
• Support youth information networks;
• Pilot and demonstrate new ideas on employment, governance, adequate shelter and secure tenure;
• Share and exchange best practices;
• Promote vocational training and credit mechanisms for entrepreneurship and employment;
• Promote gender mainstreaming in all urban youth matters.

The Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-Led Development , as it is officially called, was launched on 4 November 2008 at the fourth session of the World Urban Youth Forum in Nanjing, China.

Youth Fund System

This Fund supports urban youth in developing countries. It aims to advance the achievements of the Millennium Development goals and the Habitat Agenda by providing grants up to USD 25,000 to youth-led projects piloting innovative approaches to employment, good urban governance, shelter and secure tenure.

For more information on past winners and to access to practice template please visit: www.unhabitat.org/YouthFund

Financial aid: Grants

Date: 2012

Deadline: 15 April 2012

Open to: All Interested

Read More @ http://www.wupy.org/opportunities/other/674-the-un-habitat-youth-fund-20...