Young people across the world – women and girls in particular – continue to face barriers to economic inclusion. Many fall short of their potential and become stuck in low-income poverty. Recent economic pressures following COVID-19 have also made things more challenging for young people from low-income communities.
The future of work also presents challenges – an estimated 50 per cent of employees worldwide will need reskilling by 20251, as adoption of technology increases. Accessing the relevant training will be vital for young people.
While the global unemployment rate is projected to remain above its pre-COVID-19 level until at least 2023, the pandemic has further shifted the informality and patterns of work2. We need to move faster so that marginalised young people have the skills and confidence to adapt to the new ways of working and succeed in the new economy.
Futuremakers by Standard Chartered is our global initiative in response to this need. Together with our charity partners, we’re striving to unleash the potential of young people from low-income backgrounds across our markets.
This report reviews the progress we’ve made through Futuremakers since its launch in 2019. We have a long-term commitment to support young people in our markets and we’re proud to already be making a difference. From 2019 to mid-2022, we reached 849,596 young people, mostly women and girls, helping them through education, employability and entrepreneurship programmes.
In this report, we review performance against our targets, which I’m pleased to say are largely on track despite the challenges of COVID-19. We highlight some of our key results and share stories from young people whose lives we’ve helped to change. We also explore some of the ways we plan to deepen our impact, as we continue to demonstrate our brand promise to be ‘Here for good’.
Thank you for supporting Futuremakers and I hope you enjoy learning more about this important work.
1World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs Report 2020, Page 6 2International Labour Organization, World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2022, Page 23,29
