Joint Programme: Youth and women employment The intended objective of this joint programme is to contribute towards Rwanda’s inclusive growth, economic transformation and accelerated poverty reduction goals as encapsulated in Vision 2020 and the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 2) as well as to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Through these strategies, the Government of Rwanda (GoR) aims to move half of the Rwandan labour-force from a low-productive agricultural dominated farm jobs to a more productive industry and services-based economy, thus reducing underemployment and unemployment especially among the youth and women in both urban and rural areas. It is through this entry point that the joint programme will support national efforts to achieve the youth and women employment programming results expected from the second EDPRS and UNDAP and will contribute towards attaining a structural shift from the current 104,000 off-farm annual job creation rate to the targeted 200,000 jobs. Out of the estimated 5.89 million Rwandan working age population, 70.6% lies in the youth definition bracket and 65% of them are underemployed whereas 4% belong to the unemployed category. As the MDGs draw to a close, the UN and its member States are in the process of designing a post-2015 development agenda. The preliminary roadmap based on global country consultations as outlined in the Secretary General’s Report “A Life of Dignity for all” identifies youth employment and inclusive growth as major shifts that need to happen to end extreme poverty and improve livelihoods. This five-year programme is aligned to the programming cycles of GoR and UN through EDPRS2:2013-2018 and the United Nations development Assistance Plan (UNDAP) 2013-2018 respectively and is in particular aligned to Outcomes 1, 2 and 4 of the first result area of UNDAP - Inclusive Economic Transformation - and - Productivity and Youth Employment - thematic area of EDPRS 2. It is built on five outcomes including enhancing national capacities to promote employment intensive growth and to mainstream youth employment in programmes and budgets; building skills and competences of youth and women for employability and enterprises competitiveness; enhancing job creation and enterprise development through entrepreneurship development access to markets and inclusive financial services; promoting labour market information systems for youth economic empowerment opportunities; and building the coordination, management and oversight of the programme. The five programme outcomes are further aligned to the three strategic objectives underlined in the National Employment Programme (NEP) which are: Creating sufficient jobs that are adequately remunerative and sustainable across the economy; Equipping the workforce with vital skills and attitude for increased productivity that are needed for the private sector growth; and Providing a national framework for coordinating all employment and related initiatives; and the four pillars of NEP: Skills Development, Entrepreneurship and Business Development; Labour Market Intervention; and Coordination and Monitoring & Evaluation. The flagship brings together 12 sister UN agencies under the coordination of ILO, including UNDP, UNCDF, UNECA, FAO,UN-WOMEN, UN-HABITAT, UNIDO, UNV, UNCTAD, ILO, UNESCO and ITC into joint actions based on comparative advantages each possesses in responding to particular youth and women economic empowerment needs. A total resource package equivalent to US$ 28,232,646 will be required to support the programme. Contributing agencies will provide some core resources and vertical funds and the rest will be mobilized through the One UN funding mechanism and within the framework of the UNDAP. This joint programme will be implemented through a parallel funding mechanism with resources managed by UNDP in partnership with seven ministries including MYICT, MINECOFIN, MINICOM, MIGEPROF, MIFOTRA, MINEDUC, MINALOC and P