UNDP and Citi Foundation drive Youth Social Entrepreneurship Movement

Brandee McHale, president of Citi Foundation, giving her opening remarks at the summit

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Citi Foundation, with collaboration and support from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Vietnam Volunteer Centre, opened the second Asia-Pacific Youth Co:Lab Summit in Hanoi today.

The flagship event brought together over 500 delegates, including hundreds of youth, partners, and government officials from 20 countries, to exchange ideas, knowledge, and experiences, to influence policy initiatives on youth entrepreneurship and social innovation.

According to the Asia-Pacific Human Development Report 2016, more than half of the young people in the world today live in the Asia-Pacific and 1.7 billion are under 25.

The report further states that close to 71 million young people, aged 15 to 24, are unemployed worldwide, 33 million of whom are in the Asia-Pacific alone. Nearly 220 million young people are neither at school nor at work, presenting a daunting crisis which needs an urgent response.

Co-created in 2017 by the UNDP and Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab aims to empower and invest in youth so that they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Over the last two years, Youth Co:Lab projects have been implemented in 20 countries and territories across the region, with national dialogues, regional summits, and social innovation challenges reaching over 48,000 participants.

The initiative has benefitted over 2,500 young social entrepreneurs and helped launch or improve nearly 500 social enterprises.

Youth Co:Lab has also established partnerships with more than 100 key ecosystem players to strengthen the Youth Empowerment Alliance to support young entrepreneurs, particularly young women and marginalised youth, by connecting them with businesses, incubators, accelerators, and financing mechanisms to develop their ideas into viable business models for sustainable social impact.

Key speakers at the opening of the summit at Hanoi’s National Economics University this morning were Valerie Cliff, UNDP deputy regional director for Asia and the Pacific; Brandee McHale, president of Citi Foundation and head of Corporate Citizenship at Citi; Caitlin Wiesen, resident representative, UNDP Vietnam; Tran Van Tung, Vice Minister, Ministry of Science and Technology, Vietnam; and Pham Hong Chuong, vice rector, National Economics University of Vietnam.

“As I see the first generation of Youth Co:Lab social entrepreneurs flourish and carry their own initiatives forward, I am reminded of the reason why this work is so important: young people really do hold the key to social change,” said Valerie Cliff, UNDP deputy regional director for Asia and the Pacific.

“This is how we can align the grit and determination of young change-makers to meet the ambition of the SDGs. Our mandate at Youth Co:Lab is to play the role of an integrator and strengthen the ecosystem connecting young people with governments and businesses to scale impact.”

“Youth Co:Lab’s approach of listening to the perspectives and ideas of young people, and empowering them to drive business solutions that address our world’s most pressing issues is how real change happens,” added Brandee McHale, president of Citi Foundation.

“Only by joining forces with multiple actors from the public and private sector, social partners, civil society, and beyond can we work towards fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals,” she noted.

“In the current context of global integration and development, startups and innovation play an important role in economic development, addressing global difficulties and challenges, as well as achieving sustainable development in each country and all over the world,” Vice Minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung said in his opening remarks.

“The Youth Co:Lab Summit 2019, jointly organised by the UNDP and Citi Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology, is a significant event for the innovative startup community and social impact enterprises, in particular. The summit will enable an exchange of ideas and help to further develop startups through incubation, innovation, expanding connections, and international co-operation.”

The two-day summit brings together several keynote speakers, prominent social entrepreneurs, youth change makers, principal government officials, and leading ecosystem players.

The summit will conclude with the Youth Co:Lab Regional Social Innovation Challenge, where 34 teams, pre-selected during the national social innovation challenges held across 16 countries respectively, will pitch and showcase their social enterprises and ideas to a panel of esteemed judges.