Through the Eyes of the Youth: Shaping Inclusive Social Protection and Decent Work

This solution session is organised as part of the USP2030 series “Maximising social development impact through universal social protection systems” covering issues such as decent work, gender, youth, disability, ageing, digitalisation, fragility and conflict contexts, climate change, financing and inequality.

Overview of the solution session

Lead organiser: Belgium. Co-organisers: ILO and UNICEF.

Belgium and its partners propose a forward-thinking session, placing the youth at the centre to shape today’s solutions for tomorrow’s challenges, and ensure social development and equitable access to decent living conditions for all. It builds on nearly 20 years of BE experience in Sub-Saharan Africa in the field of Social Protection in Health, and more recently on Decent Work and Social Protection, through Enabel, NGOs, CSOs, UN organisations (ILO, UNICEF) and EU initiatives (SOCIEUX+, TEI Social Protection).

With a median age estimated at 19 years in Africa, taking young’s people voices into account (including women, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups) is essential to address current challenges to achieve:

• Extension of SP coverage, including access to universal health insurance in the informal sector
• Integrated social protection policies that break sectoral silos
• Stronger links between skills development, decent work and youth entrepreneurship, and enhanced Decent Jobs for Youth for poverty alleviation
• An effective transition from informal to formal employment, including social protection benefits
• Innovative and sustainable financing, including domestic resource mobilisation
• Empowered young populations to cope with emerging shocks and actively contribute to resilient and inclusive development opportunities through transitional approaches (climate, energy, digital, demographic, agriculture, etc.)

Co-led by dynamic youth delegates, this session will explore how strategic partnerships and inclusive approaches can accelerate progress toward universal social protection and decent work for all. It will adopt a rights-based approach and present a compelling vision on how best to effectively engage the youth in shaping more integrated solutions. present a compelling vision on how best to effectively engage the youth in shaping more integrated solutions.

Key speakers

Keynote speakers and panelists will include the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights and representatives from the Belgian Ministry for Consumer Protection, Fight against Social Fraud, Persons with Disabilities, and Equal Opportunities, the Senegalese Ministry of Microfinance and the Social and Solidarity Economy, the European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships, the Islamic Development Bank, the Belgian Agency for International Cooperation (Enabel), and Youth advocates.

Agenda of the solution session

The discussion will be divided into two participatory panels:

1. Listening first: Do youth-oriented social protection and employment initiatives reflect young people’s realities and hopes?
2. Devising youth-driven solutions: Powering innovative and scalable social protection and employment initiatives through enhanced partnerships.

In each of these panels, young panelists will share first-hand accounts of their realities, aspirations, and the challenges they face in accessing adequate social protection and decent work. These testimonies will serve as a basis for an open discussion on how governments, development partners, and other stakeholders are addressing these needs, and the extent to which current strategies are effectively reducing poverty and enhancing the well-being of young people.

The conversation will be grounded in concrete examples, including initiatives from Tanzania and Uganda in social protection in health, employment and other social development dimensions. These cases will illustrate how integrated, context-sensitive approaches can foster socio-economic empowerment, strengthen resilience, and create sustainable opportunities for the next generation.