The International Youth Fund (IYF) was established in 1990 to bring opportunities and resources to young people, and currently has projects in close to 70 territories around the world.

IYF works in four main areas – education, employability, leadership and engagement, and health education and awareness – so that youth have greater opportunities to succeed in life.

Their vision is of ‘a world where all young people achieve their full potential and shape the future with power and confidence,’ and they work toward this goal through partnerships with a global network of organisations – including the Foundation of Goodness.

In 2006, IYF launched their Tsunami Reconstruction Initiative which aims to provide more than 4,400 tsunami affected youth (ages 16 to 29) with access to job and life skills training, apprenticeships, job placements, and micro-credit or small start-up loans.

As part of this initiative, they are funding the Women’s Enterprise Division and Business Skills Centre at the Foundation of Goodness’s Centre of Excellence. Through these programs, over the next three years 2,160 young people in Seenigama will receive training in areas such as beauty culture, patchwork, sewing, beralu lace making and starting up small businesses.

It is expected that this program will have fair reaching benefits for participants, as the area suffers from high levels of unemployment and lack of opportunities for young people once they have gradated from school.

Visit the IYF website
Read about the IYF Tsunami Reconstruction Initiative
Read about IYF’s first monitoring visit to FoG