Africa has the youngest population of any continent making the problem of youth unemployment particularly relevant. 40% of the African population is between the ages of 15-35, and this number is expected to double in the next thirty years, hence finding employment opportunities for the young people is a critical challenge for Africa.

With no signs that population growth will slow in the decades to come. Africa needs to leverage the talent and energy of its youth to create dramatically higher levels of prosperity and equality and avoid the latent risks of unemployment and social instability. Today, Africa finds itself in a precarious position on this most important issue. Youth unemployment is three times the continent’s overall average.
The World Bank- February 2016 publication, found that young people under 25 represent three-fifths of sub-Saharan Africa’s unemployed population, and 72 percent of the youth population lives on less than $2 a day. To help their families, 30 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 14 are forced to work, which robs them of the educational opportunities that could break their families’ cycles of intergenerational poverty.
So what does the average unemployed youth look like in Africa? She is an 18-year-old girl, living in a rural area, literate but not attending school. Building her skills, reaping her energy, and realizing her aspirations would help every African country improve its living standards and ignite economic growth. Empowering her with opportunities to reach and apply her full potential is both an important challenge and a vital opportunity.

To mobilise and bring youth into the spaces where they experience the transforming power of S2C, the AAYMCAs will host 2000 young people at the Kenya YMCA Shaurimoyo Branch on the 25-26 November 2016, to a Fair called the ‘’Career Expo and Beyond’’.  As much as career fairs for students and those out of school, feature as a learning experiences, listening to motivational speakers, reviewing their CVs, sharpen interview skills, witness showcasing of products and programmes by stakeholders, Our ‘’Careers Expo and Beyond’’ ensures follow up and supports to all the attendees of the Expo to ensure that eventually they are in either gainful employment or owners of enterprises using various YMCA S2C customized frameworks to attain self-achievement and realisation,

The Career Expo is simply a mobilising 2 day forum to expose Young People on various options beyond employment or to charge them to career pathways that are labour market relevant.