This partnership between Barclays and UNICEF tackles youth unemployment by giving young people the skills, knowledge and confidence to set up their own small business or find a job.
Social impacts
- The programme trained 72,921 young people in enterprise, financial, employment and life skills; 28,000 young people have started saving.
- Has led to the creation of 9,000 new businesses with over 3,000 sustained for over 12 months.
- Policy changes were also made in each country the programme has run in as a result of learnings from the project.
Business impacts
- Partnering with UNICEF allowed Barclays to demonstrate to national governments in key markets its commitment to serving the communities in which it works in a tangible, positive and credible way.
- Building Young Futures generated high profile, positive media coverage, enhancing Barclays’ reputation globally with existing and new customers.
- Involvement with the programme, through fundraising and delivering elements of the training, led to increased engagement amongst Barclays employees.
Over 74.5 million young people worldwide are unemployed. Building Young Futures is a partnership between Barclays and UNICEF that helps young people, between the ages of 15 and 25, in communities with high unemployment. It delivers in-depth programmes specifically designed to give marginalised young people employment, financial and entrepreneurial skills.
The programme operates in six countries where both Barclays and UNICEF have a presence: Brazil, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Uganda and Zambia. The goals are the same for each country but programmes are run differently to reflect the national context. The partnership also works directly with national and local governments to influence policies that will unlock resources and support.
72,921 of the most marginalised young people globally have now received enterprise, financial, employment and life skills training.
What Barclays’ Chief Executive said:
“Building Young Futures helps young people to become active participants in their local economies. Barclays’ aspiration is to be the ‘go to’ bank and this means being a force of good wherever we operate, committed to enhancing the prosperity of individuals, businesses and communities. This is exactly what Building Young Futures is all about.” – Antony Jenkins, Group Chief Executive, Barclays
