Each year, more than 550 youth development experts and innovators from 60+ countries convene at the Global Youth Economic Opportunities (GYEO) Summit to deepen their knowledge and skills, expand their professional networks, and gain new insights on the social and economic trends impacting young people in a changing world. At the heart of the Summit agenda is actionable, hands-on learning facilitated through honest dialogue and diverse perspectives.

Breakout sessions at the GYEO Summit are selected through a competitive and open Call for Proposals process. Submit your session proposal by March 21 to be considered for a spot in the 2019 Summit agenda.   

The 13th Annual GYEO Summit theme is The Opportunity Puzzle: Piecing It Together for All Youth To Learn, Earn, and Thrive. This theme builds on the learning outcomes of our 2017-2018 focus on the changing world of work for youth in developing contexts, linking insights on the technological and structural changes that characterize the changing world of work to the broader systems that impact young peoples’ lives.

To support this focus, the 2019 GYEO Summit will continue to explore key topics on skills development, work readiness, self-employment and youth entrepreneurship, as well as cross-cutting issues like gender, conflict, measuring impact, achieving scale and more. The agenda will also incorporate a deeper look at the following areas:

• Policy and governance: How do we narrow the “policy gap” for youth social and economic mobility? How can we more effectively engage leadership to drive investments that benefit more young people? 
• Engaging business: Where are the emerging industries of opportunity, how can young people access jobs in these industries, and how can we work with companies to recruit, retain, mentor and train youth on the job?
• Healthy workforce: How can we incorporate a stronger focus on issues of mental health and trauma in our youth economic opportunity programs? 
• The impact of disruption on youth economic opportunity: Conflict and violence, environmental disaster, mass migration: these events impact young people’s social and economic well-being in critical ways. How well do we understand the impact on young peoples’ development, and better reflect this understanding in the design of our programs and policies?

Partner With Us 

We invite interested organizations to partner with us as a Summit sponsor in 2019. Summit sponsors gain high-level exposure to a global audience of more than 550 youth development experts and innovators from 60+ countries. The Summit offers a unique, diverse space for applied learning, honest dialogue and new connections among funders, leading global companies, implementing organizations, policymakers, educators, researchers and young leaders who are dedicated to solving the some of the biggest challenges impacting youth economic opportunities today. 

As a 2019 Summit sponsor you can:

• Generate greater awareness about your work
• Play a collaborative role in shaping the Summit agenda
• Deepen your learning and connect with new partners to help grow your impact

To learn more on how to become a Summit sponsor or exhibitor, please contact Sarah Sladen, Director, Youth Economic Opportunities Network (YEO Network) at [email protected].