Youth Represent DRC is part of the activities conducted under the USAID's Youth Excel Global Program led by IREX. Under Youth Represent DRC, youth-led and youth-serving organizations in Kinshasa and North Kivu collaborate and conduct implementation research, learning how strengthen  inclusion of underrepresented and marginalized youth in education and workforce development in the DRC. 

As the second-largest country in Africa, plagued by instability, conflict, limited infrastructure, and low levels of educational access and outcomes, the DRC is home to a young, diverse population. Vulnerable youth – including ethnic minorities and indigenous populations, young women, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQI+ youth – face compounded forms of exclusion from education and workforce programming and are more likely than their peers not to access, advance, or complete education nor to access dignified work.  

Youth Excel engages diverse young Congolese leaders in North Kivu and Kinshasa to pilot-test innovative interventions, generate actionable information and recommendations, and prepare knowledge products to mobilize the Congolese education and workforce sectors.  

• In 2021-2022, over 20 local youth-focused organizations  conducted implementation research focused on including marginalized youth in workforce development programs. 

• In 2021, Youth Represent DRC conducted a conflict, protection, social inclusion, and gender analysis in two counties, Kinshasa and North Kivu. 

• In August 2022, youth participants will share and interrogate their findings with adult allies and decision-makers at Data Summits.

● Capacity Building: Staff identify and engage youth-led and youth-serving organizations and strengthen their capacity in practical implementation research skills and in other areas.

● Youth-led Research:  Selected organizations conduct youth-led and youth-informed rapid intersectional gender analysis, protection assessment, conflict analysis and stakeholder mapping.

●Institutional Support:  The program supports youth-led/youth-serving organizations through training, mentoring, and micro-grants to pilot-test innovative solutions to address the barriers and leverage the opportunities.

● Knowledge Sharing: The organizations create and share actionable knowledge products for youth and the development community, including youth personas, summaries of the gender, protection, and conflict assessments, data summaries, and an assessment report.

Youth Represent DRC is led by Search for Common Ground/DRC.  Business Investment Management and Centre de Recherche sur l'Anti-Corruption are the local implementing partners in the DRC. Youth Represent DRC is part of the activities conducted under the USAID's Youth Excel Global Program led by IREX.