ILO to host the first High-Level Conference on Youth and Employment in North Africa

GENEVA/CAIRO/ALGIERS/ABIDJAN (ILO News) – The first Youth and Employment in North Africa (YENA) Conference, organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO), will be held from 26-27 September 2017 at ILO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The YENA conference will bring together senior government, employer and worker representatives from seven African countries: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia, as well as development partners to agree on a new “Roadmap for Youth Employment in North Africa” for the next five years.

Convened under the theme “Scale up actions for youth employment”, the two-day conference will address the most pressing issues related to youth and decent work in North Africa. The interactive platform will provide an opportunity to share the latest initiatives, results, and priorities ahead for each country.

North Africa was hard-hit by high levels of youth unemployment, low female labour force participation, compromised job quality, increasing informality, slow productivity and underemployment. Yet, countries have been able to move past emergency and short-term responses to undertake substantial reforms in favour of a more inclusive and job-rich growth.

On Tuesday 26 September 2017, YENA 2017, which will take place at the ILO Governing Body Room (Level R-3), will include a panel discussion on “Closing the youth employment gap in North Africa” and two key High- level Dialogue sessions dedicated to the “Pillars of decent work for youth” and “A new roadmap for youth employment promotion in North Africa”.

This event is open to journalists accredited to the United Nations – Palais des Nations – in Geneva. For security reasons, journalists are strongly encouraged to inform the ILO Department of Communication (DCOMM) in advance in order to facilitate access to the event in the ILO premises.

Journalists who are not accredited to the United Nations in Geneva should register by sending an email to [email protected].

Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook using #YENA2017.

Press materials will be available to the media. For more detailed information and/or interview requests, please contact:

ILO Regional Office for Africa, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Guebray Berhane |+225 87905779 | [email protected]

ILO DWT Cairo, Egypt
Asmaa Rezk |+2 01099760450 | [email protected]