Cambodia is the most youthful country in South East Asia with more than 50 percent of the total population below 25 years. There are around 300’000 new entrants to the labour market every year who face various challenges in terms of relevance and quality of the training, leading to a mismatch between labour market demand and supply. Cambodia transits to a lower middle income country with increasing competition and a pressing need for a skilled workforce that is responsive and adaptive to changing labour market needs.

Young women and men increasingly obtain decent and productive employment opportunities.

The ultimate beneficiaries of this project are young women and men, especially the most vulnerable. Additionally, jobseekers, employers, training providers, and other customer groups of employment services across the country will benefit from the project.

Policymakers will benefit by gaining increased capacity to develop wider policies aimed at reducing unemployment, bridging skills deficits and enhancing labour market efficiency.

1. Young women and men access quality formal and non-formal education including volunteerism to develop relevant technical and vocational skills.
2. Young women and men, both in-school and out-of-school, are equipped with adequate entrepreneurial and business skills to create and develop sustainable enterprises.
3. Young women and men benefit from a reduced risk of abuse and discrimination at work.

Expected results:  

• Strengthened system for certification of TVET institutions, based on industry and ASEAN standards;
• Coordination and delivery of certified basic education and TVET programmes
• Quality market and industry-driven skills programmes for priority sectors developed and available to youth  including volunteering programmes
• Entrepreneurship education modules expanded to more secondary education institutions and TVET programmes and available for out of school youth
• Unemployed and vulnerably employed youth are better informed about their rights and employment prospects
• In-factory literacy programmes for working young women and men delivered

Results from previous phases:  

UNited For Youth Employment builds on existing initiatives from 5 specialized UN agencies (ILO, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNV) for promoting youth employment. Their experiences show that youth employment programmes have positive impacts for youth on labour market outcomes, skills training and entrepreneurship and that they raise awareness for the promotion of the rights of workers resulting in discrimination reduction.

Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Ministry of Tourism, National Employment Agency, CAMFEBA, NGOs and Trade unions

SDC Skills Development Programme Cambodia, ADB TVET Sector Development Program, 

SDC Regional PROMISE project,

JICA and KOICA projects on TVET

Phase 1 01.09.2017 - 29.02.2020   (Completed)