Giving Compass' Take:

• FHI 360 highlights various programs around the world that focus on youth development, providing resources, training and opportunities for future economic success.

• What can we learn from these success stories in Morocco and Mozambique? One is that teaching life skills to young people could be as vital as any targeted workforce training curriculum.

• Here's why youth development should focus more on social mobility.

The global economic landscape, along with the nature of work, is rapidly changing. More and more people are working outside of a typical office environment and in the gig economy. This is creating new economic opportunities — and challenges. The abilities and aspirations of young people, who now number almost two billion, are often unrealized, especially in the developing world. What is the best way to secure their futures?

We believe that positive youth development interventions can support and empower youth to be more engaged, healthy and productive members of their communities. Meeting young people where they are — whether in person or online — is necessary to build the critical skills and competencies to meet the demands of a growing and evolving economy. Our research shows that positive youth development interventions can facilitate resilience and, when combined with labor market analysis, prepare young people for future employment.

The USAID Career Center project in Morocco offers an example of how the positive youth development approach can promote economic empowerment. The project provides safe spaces to connect young people to real and virtual platforms to build skills and minimize vulnerability. Six career centers assist university and vocational training students in developing critical skills like problem-solving, negotiation and resilience so that they can successfully transition from education to employment. Youth ambassadors and career counselors provide peer-to-peer mentorship and positive role models ... To date, 138,067 youth have benefitted from career center services both online and offline, and 29,105 have completed work-readiness training.

Read the full article about positive youth development as pathway to economic power by Kristin Brady and Shahera Younes at degrees.fhi360.org.