Locations
Promoting Youth Leadership, Social Innovation and Inclusive Entrepreneurship
Youth Co:Lab India
Background
Youth Co:Lab is an initiative co-created by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Citi Foundation that aims to establish a common agenda for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to empower and invest in youth so that they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation, and entrepreneurship.
In India, Youth Co:Lab was launched in 2019 in collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog. Through this collaboration, as of 2023, Youth Co:Lab has conducted five national theme-specific youth social innovation and entrepreneurship challenges, including various forms of engagement such as panel discussions, workshops, dialogues, and webinars. Youth Co:Lab India supports young social entrepreneurs through a long-term incubation programme, with selected entrepreneurs representing India regionally in the Youth Co:Lab Summit.
Project Outcomes
Strengthening the entrepreneurial skills of young people: National and regional dialogues, social innovation challenges, and other events across the region are organized to develop 21st-century skills, foster social entrepreneurship, provide leadership training opportunities, and raise awareness about the SDGs among young people in the Asia-Pacific region.
Catalyzing the impact solutions of youth social entrepreneurs: The Springboard programme is a startup support platform providing ongoing support for young SDG innovators by facilitating mentoring, knowledge exchange, networking, and showcasing. Springboard Plus is a six-month virtual pre-accelerator programme that enhances investment readiness for youth-led social enterprises.
Strengthening the ecosystem for youth social entrepreneurship: Youth Co:Lab connects ecosystem stakeholders through its key partnership structure, Youth Empowerment Alliance. The Springboard Amplifier programme provides a peer-to-peer learning platform for entrepreneur support organizations across the Asia-Pacific region to connect and strengthen their capacities to support young social entrepreneurs and innovators.
Key Achievements
- Since 2017, Youth Co:Lab has supported aspiring and inspiring young social entrepreneurs in 28 countries and territories in Asia and the Pacific.
- National dialogues, regional summits, social innovation challenges and workshops have reached over 255,000 participants.
- National youth social innovation and entrepreneurial skills development activities have served over 15,000 young people and supported over 1,700 youth-led social innovation and entrepreneurship teams.
- Youth Co:Lab has also established a network of over 210 ecosystem stakeholders through a Youth Empowerment Alliance.
