Adolescent and Youth
UNICEF empowers young people as active agents of change in their communities and aims to support their transition to a productive, engaged, and fulfilled adulthood
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UNICEF empowers young people as active agents of change in their communities and aims to support their transition to a productive, engaged, and fulfilled adulthood; providing them with the skills, resources, and platforms they need to thrive and contribute to Lebanon’s recovery and development.
In a context marked by economic crisis, political instability, and limited opportunities, we help young people acquire the skills the job market requires, provide work-based learning and employment opportunities, support innovation, entrepreneurship, and climate initiatives and encourage civic engagement.
Challenge
Lebanon’s 1.8 million young people – aged 10 to 24 – have been hard hit by the country’s multiple crises, which have severely affected their health, learning, livelihoods and access to essential services, as well as their outlook for the future.
The main issues faced by young people in Lebanon
The main issues faced by young people in Lebanon
Many youths can no longer afford the costs of education and are forced to drop out of school to seek work and support their families’ livelihood.; young girls are often married off early to ease economic burdens; and opportunities for second-chance education and skill-building remain scarce. About one in three young people is not in education, employment or training (NEET).
These are expected to rise further, which could lead to an increase in child marriage among girls and child labour among boys. Household labour, particularly care work, is increasing for girls but remains underreported.
This is partly due to the disparity between the education and skills young people have acquired and the demands of the labour market. With the country’s economy expected to continue shrinking, young people will likely face even greater challenges in finding decent, safe employment. As a result, there is fierce competition for low-paying informal jobs.
The economic meltdown, the 2024 war and a lack of opportunities have led to rising levels of stress and anxiety.
The mass displacements caused by the hostilities led to increased demand for essential services, exacerbating the situation for youth who were already struggling with the impacts of the socio-economic crisis.
The current crisis impacted girls' access to education, essential services, and mental health. School dropout rates are expected to rise, leading to an increase in child marriage among girls and child labour among boys. Additionally, household labour, particularly care work, is increasing for girls but remains underreported.
Solution
Urgent action is needed to ensure young people have access to quality foundational learning, skilling, civic engagement and work opportunities, and have a future to look forward to.
This requires new investments to meet the diverse needs of young people. Funding should go towards:
- Basic and Foundational Learning to compensate for the learning losses
- Skilling, upskilling and reskilling and employability to enable young people to secure decent work and contribute to society.
- Livelihood support, protection measures and life skills, as well as mental and emotional care for young people who need it
- Civic engagement and volunteering to build cohesion and belongingness
Our Key Achievements
UNICEF seeks to create sustainable change in the lives of adolescents and [AO1] youth by supporting policies and providing services that improve young people’s learning, skills and professional readiness, while promoting their well-being and encouraging their civic engagement.
In 2024 alone, UNICEF:
Our Key Achievements
Contributed to systems strengthening and promoted inclusive policies through the National Youth Policy. This included:
- Supported the development of the costing of the National Youth Policy Action Plan.
- Driving the development of the National Strategic Framework for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) (2024-2028), a roadmap for the reform fo the the TVET sector.
- Developing a multiple flexible pathway (MFP) framework for the re-enrolment of out-of-school adolescents and youth into formal TVET by 2026.
Supported more than 38,500 adolescents and youth with learning, skilling, digital training, entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainable livelihoods opportunities, in partnership with 200 employers. This included:
- Placing 3,198 young people in work-based learning opportunities within private sector companies.
- Placing 2,688 youth in jobs upon completion of competency-based training and workplace-based learning, while supporting the establishment of 73 micro-businesses and supporting 79 start-ups, fostering economic empowerment and sustainable livelihoods.
- Establishing 16 social enterprises led by women and youth, including seven farms and shops, five kitchens, and four guest houses, employing 341 youth in the rehabilitation and management of the enterprises.
- Under the Generation Innovation Leader programme:
- Training 3,778 youth in entrepreneurship, digital skills, and creative thinking, resulting in the financial support and incubation of 120 small businesses and the creation of 200 job opportunities.
- Providing digital skilling to 1,685 youth, with 350 youth placed in jobs within three months, and enabling 14,000 youth, including 4,000 displaced youth, to access certified digital training and industry certifications, with 100 youth connected to gig economy jobs through the Nammiskills platform.
Supported more than 90,500 young people to improve their well-being, while promoting their engagement in their communities. This included:
- Sensitizing 20,373 youth and 419 caregivers on mental health, well-being and climate change.
- Providing 32,938 adolescents with life skills training, with a focus on personal development, employability and well-being, in addition to active citizenship and social cohesion skills.
- Promoting youth engagement through two digital platforms, Nahno Volunteers and U-Report Lebanon, where 11,321 volunteers registered on the Nahno youth volunteer platform in addition to the engagement with 107 partners such as social development centres, schools, municipalities, NGOs, and universities.
- Engaging 4,500 young people in 136 youth-led initiatives.
- Establishing a youth advisory group involving 65 youth across Lebanon to be engaged in Planning and advocacy, consisting of the largest youth advisory group in the MENA region.
Provided a timely emergency response for young people during the emergency responce. Some 5,500 youth participated in the humanitarian efforts, supporting 800 shelters and communities. This included:
- Cooking and distributing 170,000 meals to displaced families and frontline workers by 400 youth.
- Providing hairdressing services to 10,000 IDPs by 31 youth.
- Produced 7,353 sleeping bags, 4,370 blankets and 16,508 winter kits by 545 youth and distributing them to 16,508 IDPs and vulnerable families.
- Reaching 101,000 IDPs through engagement and volunteering activities.
- Providing life skills and mental health sessions to more than 6,000 adolescents and youth in shelters and communities.
- Providing solar power to two TVET schools used as collective shelters supported by 5 youth.
- Equipping 20 TVET digital hubs and 120 classrooms with internet facilities and 250 tablets for online or blended learning.