REWORK THE WORLD – COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS

The Rework the World initiative seeks to accelerate new approaches to the challenge of youth unemployment worldwide. The point of departure is the converging crises of the economy and the environment, and the critical need to create greener economies. It engages innovative models that are linking youth employment opportunities to climate adaptation and mitigation and the wider sustainability challenge, and works with mainstream institutions to leverage this learning and explore what it might mean at a larger scale of intervention.

Through a methodology grounded in systems thinking and based on strategic brokering of relationships, the project seeks to significantly scale the impact of existing efforts by engineering clusters of supporting actors and linking these to local youth networks. The aim is to generate large scale green employment opportunities for youth, and to realise synergies in existing efforts of business, civil society, government, and international bodies.

For this purpose a number of collaborative efforts are being developed as part of the initiative.

Concrete results are already emerging out of meetings in East Africa, Sweden and in the run up to the meetings in India and Latin America. Entrepreneurs in areas such as low-income housing, solar energy lighting for rural areas, sustainable charcoal and rural livelihoods are as a result of the project starting to work with youth leaders and networks, preparing plans to support green youth opportunities.

The goal is to explore how practical examples of collaborative strategies can inform and inspire the work of larger institutions, which have a wealth of experience after decades of advancing development goals: How to build youth green employment into industrial and employment policies? How to create enabling business environments and governance? The YES Summit in June 2010 will link actors together to further advance these ideas on taking new practical approaches and propositions forward on a larger scale.

Key issues that require rethinking and redoing include:
Water, Energy, Health, Food, Cities, Finance, Education and Ecosystems Services.

Goals:

• Advance youth green employment agenda: create and showcase opportunities for young people connected to environmental efforts.

• Give visibility to innovative cases, where different sectors working collaboratively to advance systemic challenges.
• Illustrate and explore with mainstream institutions how to leverage their experience, resources and strategies to advance the agenda.
  

• Identify and give visibility to exciting approaches to create youth green jobs in different sectors and countries.
• Connect clusters of business, cross sector networks, public institutions that are interested in exploring shared value
• Inspire mainstream actors to change strategies and rethink approaches towards youth green employment agenda

• The Tällberg Foundation is using its global network of decision-makers and entrepreneurs in climate-related areas to develop large-scale business and economic opportunities to advance youth green employment; opening doors to enlist mainstream actors in the efforts.

• The YES network is leveraging youth leaders and chapters and their relationships at country-level with investors, foundations, and especially government agencies, to propose ways of engaging their participation around concrete efforts to advance youth green employment.

• The work in the run up to the Summit in 2010, and the event itself, will focus on creating ‘entry points’ to mainstream institutions with concrete business models and solutions, propositions will be made for how these actors –business, investors, governments— can align their efforts, programs and strategies, to support a new generation of solutions for youth green employment. Tallberg Foundation will follow up each opportunity space, by nurturing relationships with mainstream actors and integrate these cases to its ongoing work on climate solutions.