PROJECT DESCRIPTION

With a per capita GDP of 4,549 US dollars, Guatemala is one of the countries with the greatest social inequalities worldwide: over 50% of its population live in poverty. The lack of adequate levels of education, coupled with too little employment prospects and development opportunities, are factors that push thousands of young people into the labour market to become part of the informal economy or lead many to emigrate, especially to the United States. However, the biggest challenge is not unemployment, but the high share of people working within the informal employment sector and the lack of its quality. They are confronted with very low incomes and have almost no access to social security. The Guatemalan government officially launched the National Policy for Decent Employment 2017- 2032 (PNED) in April 2017. It has four strategical pillars: (1) Job creation, (2) Human Capital development, (3) Create environment for enterprise development; and (4) Transition to formality. The "Programme to Support Decent Employment in Guatemala" builds on the achievements of the Job Creation and Vocational Training Programme for Youth in Guatemala - commonly known as the Youth Employment Programme. Its main objective is to reduce the poverty in Guatemala specifically of women and the youth. Our consortium therefore provides long, medium and short-term technical assistance to the Ministry of Economy (MINECO) and co-beneficiaries (Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Education) in the implementation of the Decent Employment Programme in Guatemala. It supports the beneficiaries in establishing coordination mechanisms between the activities, to achieve the expected results and ensuring their coherence.

(4409852)