From OECD
You are invited to participate in the event:
#Stand By Youth
How businesses can create opportunities for youth in the post-COVID world
8 July 2021 14:00-16:00 CET (Paris time) Zoom meeting
Dear all,
We would like to invite you to the launch of the joint initiative Stand by Youth: How businesses can create opportunities for youth in the post-COVID world.
This is a joint initiative by a collective of institutions including the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, Business at OECD (BIAC), SMEunited, International Network for SMEs (INSME), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Ashoka Global, JEUNE Europe, Business for Inclusive Growth (B4IG), European Youth Forum and the European Engineering Learning Innovation and Science Alliance (EELISA).
What is the issue?
The Covid-19 crisis has brought an entire generation to a halt. It has disproportionately affected young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, setting back their education, employment prospects, mental health and income at a time when they were already facing major challenges.
To help today’s youth get through this crisis and prepare for the post-COVID world, businesses of all sizes must rally around. Many have already taken bold action and led by example, including by providing emergency support and by continuing to hire young people. Yet much more can be done. More businesses can take action, and by doing so, contribute to their own communities, and to their own future by bringing in young people with different perspectives, skills and experiences. Supporting the youth represents an opportunity – perhaps the best opportunity – that any business has to bounce back better and be fit for the post-COVID world.
About the event
The event will be opened by Ms Muriel Pénicaud – Ambassador of France to the OECD – and will be an opportunity to hear from companies and business networks, youth organisations, and higher education institutions on their perspectives and experiences in supporting young people during the pandemic. The event will consist of a series of panel discussions to examine the pandemic’s impact on youth; share companies’ success stories of ongoing actions to provide opportunities for young people; and discuss how to address the challenges facing youth in the future.
This event is open to all businesses – big, medium and small – educational institutions, governments, foundations, civil society organisations, and individuals interested in supporting young people to get through the crisis. Participants will hear from a wide range of speakers, and take part in lively discussions to inspire each other to develop actions of all kinds to support the youth and recover the ground lost during the pandemic.
The event will conclude with the official launch of a Call to Action to encourage all businesses to create opportunities for young people, particularly vulnerable ones, as we look to build forward better from the COVID crisis.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further information: Standby.Youth@oecd.org
