Enabling youth to access jobs through market-relevant (higher) vocational education and internships/traineeships and actual job matching.
Youth unemployment is high in fragile and conflict-affected regions because there is a frequent skills mismatch between the skills that youth have – or are taught in higher education – and the actual needs of the labour market. Similarly, startups and SMEs often complain that they cannot find skilled or experienced junior employees. SPARK addresses this gap by pairing youth, women and refugees with 3-6 month internships and job placements with its network of startups, existing SMEs or international companies. Youth gain work experience and companies are supported to meet their labour shortages.
Young people can be matched to on-site or remote-based internships to gain on the job experience to boost their CVs, or to permanent/semi-permanent job placements. Our job placements are often combined with tailored training and soft skills development. We increasingly focus on job placements in green and digital technology sectors, for example by providing specialised, tech skills training such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), AI, coding, UI & UX design, then placing trainees into relevant jobs in tech sectors.
SPARK advocates for legalised jobs through facilitating work permits. We measure impact in terms of jobs created, quality and sustainability (i.e. future perspectives in growth sectors).
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