The next generation of entrepreneurs.

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A number of initiatives that have the support of both national and international organizations are yielding positive results when it comes to one of the hemisphere's most serious problems: youth unemployment. This situation affects millions of young people, many of whom are trapped in poorly paid jobs with few prospects for progress and low or nonexistent social protection or health coverage.

The statistics tell the story: Unemployment and poverty have a marked affect on young people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that of the 57 million Latin Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 who either work or want to work, 9.5 million are jobless. These young people--part of the "lost decade" born between 1980 and 1990--account for 42 percent of the region's total unemployment.

In recent years, the countries of North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean have enjoyed strong economic development. However, future growth will depend on the creation of an entrepreneurial workforce that is stable, educated, and has the capacity and training to seize short- and long-term opportunities. Achieving economic growth and social development depends on young people being able to reach their potential not only as employees, but also as employers.

According to a report prepared for the ILO's Sixteenth American Regional Meeting held in Brasilia, the promotion of youth entrepreneurship is a critical way to generate high-quality jobs for the region's young people. The report underscores the importance of bringing young entrepreneurs together and helping them make connections with government, service providers, and other businesses.

"But this alone is not enough," the executive director of the ILO Employment Sector, Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, said. "Countries need to create the enabling business environment that makes it possible for young people to establish or join small enterprises, and helps young persons to move from the informal to the formal economy."

The report, which describes a series of training and employment initiatives in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, and Uruguay, proposes two broad strategies to tackle youth unemployment: reducing the number of young people who leave the education system prematurely and promoting work opportunities for youth. The goal is to cut the number of young people who neither work nor study by at least half within the next ten years.

That will be accomplished by providing universal, free access to high-quality primary and secondary education and by investing in vocational training for youth, the report notes. Efforts should be made to help young people make a transition to interesting, well-paying jobs that develop and enhance their work skills. In this regard, it is important to link education and technical training to the world of work, in order to anticipate the skills that will be required in the labor market.

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"Many young people now have a better education than their parents because education has been extended considerably over the last decades in the region," Salazar-Xirinachs explained. "In theory, this should make them more attractive from a labor demand perspective. In reality, they get precarious, unprotected, and low-paid jobs if they find any. Countries need to match higher investment in and access to education and training with expanded job opportunities. The two go hand in hand."

In the Declaration of the Second Summit of the Americas, the region's presidents and prime ministers stated, "Overcoming poverty continues to be the greatest challenge confronted by our hemisphere." The member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS), in the Summit Plan of Action, made a commitment to strengthen preparation and training for the world of work, including the development of entrepreneurial skills.

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The priorities established for the OAS at the Second Summit of the Americas led to the creation of the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) as a way to meet some of the Summit objectives. The organization's mission is to help reduce poverty and unemployment, which adversely affect development, progress, and stability throughout the region.

At the Third Summit of the Americas, the heads of state and government reaffirmed the importance of increasing "access to opportunities for sustainable entrepreneurship, productivity and employment among young people," in order to address the persistent problem of poverty and seek to ensure that secondary education is more responsive to the needs of the labor market.

A number of strategies have been identified to reach these objectives. These include training young people in entrepreneurial skills that have been proved to be successful; creating regulatory political environments that foster business growth; using the Internet intensively to provide resources and innovations; implementing modern technologies such as marketing tools; and providing capital for new businesses through private sector funds that can help attract additional international resources.

Initiatives such as the Young Americas Business Trust make it possible for countries and communities to increase their sources of youth employment and productivity and, in the long term, improve economic stability. Such initiatives also promote business expansion through the incorporation of new technologies, help create new business leaders, and--a critical benefit--lead to greater self-esteem among youth. They also strengthen ties with the OAS and other international organizations and companies, alliances that will empower these efforts and help reach the goals that have been set.

On November 15 of last year, the Young Americas Business Trust launched its 2008 Talent and Innovation Competition of the Americas, an international business plan competition that seeks to accelerate the development and market potential of innovative young entrepreneurs and scientists. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), meanwhile, organizes a series of events designed to promote youth participation in the development process.

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The IDB Youth Development and Outreach Program--IDB Youth--worked with an biter-agency committee to identify projects being run by young people to support economic and social development in their communities. This effort seeks to highlight the positive impact of young entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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The Inter-American Development Bank is supporting a wide range of projects in different countries of the region designed to develop entrepreneurial skills and promote new youth-run businesses. It sees that effort as a way to strengthen local capacity and increase potential for businesses run by young people.

Meanwhile, a working group coordinated by Young Americas Business Trust, the World Bank Institute, and the Global Development Learning Network has met to define best practices in entrepreneurial education that could be expanded to include the creation of training modules.

In Jamaica, the HEART Trust--the acronym stands for Human Employment and Resource Training--is promoting opportunities for young people to learn and acquire skills that could serve them in the future. In cooperation with various local businesses, the HEART Trust seeks to ensure that what students learn in school is more in line with the requirements of the labor market. The country's private companies, through the Jamaica Employers Federation (JEF), have now joined in this effort.

The JEF has also created the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Jamaica as a way to foster young people's entrepreneurial drive and help them create jobs. The association is the first of its kind in the Caribbean and could become a model for the creation of similar organizations in other countries.

In Bolivia, the ILO, through its Regional Programme for Sustainable Employment, is working to help build a generation of young entrepreneurs. Many teachers and professors are planting the seeds of an entrepreneurial culture through materials especially designed for that purpose. Professional trainers are also working with universities, institutes, technical schools, and even military schools to attract young people from some of Bolivia's poorest areas.

In September 2007, more than 80 young entrepreneurs from around Argentina met in the city of Mar del Plata to form the Argentine Federation of Young Entrepreneurs. Similar organizations have been started in other Latin American countries.

The creation of such organizations paves the way for the development of initiatives that involve youth in Latin America and the Caribbean. At the same time, partnerships between the public and private sectors and nongovernmental organizations roll result in proposals to alleviate unemployment and poverty in the region.

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All these initiatives underscore the tremendous value of young people and recognize the importance of responding to their needs and goals. Young people are an essential part of the labor environment. The more they are integrated into the labor force, the greater and better the opportunities there will be for progress in their countries.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and a writer on medical and human rights issues.