Project profile — Youth Challenge International - Volunteer Cooperation 2020-2028

• Ghana (34.00%)
• Uganda (32.00%)
• Tanzania (34.00%)

• Democratic participation and civil society:
Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (10.00%)
Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (4.00%)
Ending violence against women and girls (15180) (10.00%)
• Industry: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) development (32130) (75.00%)
• Unallocated/ Unspecified: Promotion of development awareness (99820) (1.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (significant objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (significant objective)
• Youth Issues (principal objective)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)

This project supports 373 volunteer placements, and aims to improve the economic and/or social well-being of the poorest, most marginalized and vulnerable people, particularly women and girls, in developing countries, with a view to contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to increasing engagement of Canadians in international development and key global issues, this project aims to increase the performance of developing country partners to deliver more inclusive, innovative and environmentally sustainable development initiatives that advance gender equality. The project responds to the needs identified by young women in the project countries, and is designed to foster and create innovative solutions for a more equitable and prosperous economy. The project addresses the opportunity for small and medium enterprises to have lasting social impact, while also creating profit for the enterprise owners. The project also targets a particularly marginalized population, particularly young women, and through collaborating with local partners, catalyzes a social innovation ecosystem and provides aspiring and established young, women social entrepreneurs access to training and business development services, which aim to allow them to create businesses with a social impact. Project activities include: (1) recruiting and training qualified Canadian volunteers; (2) developing, implementing and monitoring partner sustainability plans with a focus on inclusive, innovative and environmentally sustainable development initiatives; (3) providing technical assistance for partner organizations to support young women's social venture start-ups and growth, and to create and measure the social and environmental impact of their business activities; (4) building young women’s competencies in preparing a business idea to launch using best practice tools adapted to meet the needs of young social innovators; (5) establishing the HerStart Catalyst Fund to provide access to capital for young women’s social ventures; and (6) implementing outreach activities with a focus on global issues by Canadian volunteers to increase awareness among Canadians.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased performance of developing country partners in project countries to deliver more inclusive, innovative and environmentally sustainable development initiatives that advance gender equality; and (2) increased engagement of Canadians in international development and key global issues.

Results achieved as of March 2024 include: (1) organized 224 volunteer assignments, increasing the capacity of organizations in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda. These assignments helped them to design and deliver inclusive, innovative, environmentally sustainable development initiatives promoting gender equality; (2) deployed a total of 224 volunteers (191 women) to contribute their expertise in gender equality, social entrepreneurship and innovation, climate action, digital media and communications, programs, training and research and insights. This contributed to the training of 6,938 women entrepreneurs in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda and 7 organizations in these countries declaring and demonstrating new and improved initiatives; and (3) recorded 106 130 interactions with online content created by volunteers and Youth Challenge International et carried out over 6,231 engaged actions by Canadians mobilized in support of Canada’s international development efforts.

• Proactive disclosure