MOGADISHU, Somalia — A new partnership between South Korean tech giant LG, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the United Nations Development Programme and Elman Peace Centre is aiming to tackle one of Somalia’s most persistent challenges: youth unemployment that fuels instability and conflict.
Launched this week in Addis Ababa, the initiative combines technical education, private-sector recruitment and peacebuilding in what organizers describe as a long-term investment in Somalia’s fragile recovery.
At the centre of the programme is a new vocational training and service facility to be established at the Elman Peace Centre in Mogadishu — a city where decades of conflict have left many young people struggling to access jobs, training and economic opportunity.
The project’s backers say the approach goes beyond traditional aid models by directly linking vocational graduates to employment pathways, including apprenticeships, enterprise support and potential access to LG’s distribution and service networks inside Somalia.
For many Somali youths, the stakes are high.
With one of the youngest populations in the world and unemployment remaining widespread, Somalia faces mounting pressure to create economic opportunities fast enough to prevent exclusion, migration and recruitment into armed groups.
“Somalia’s greatest asset is its youth — their talent, resilience and creativity,” said Lionel Laurens, UNDP’s Resident Representative in Somalia, during the signing ceremony.
“By equipping young women and men with market-relevant technical skills and expanding pathways to decent work, we are laying foundations for lasting peace and economic resilience,” he said.
From Addis model to Mogadishu reality
The programme is modeled on the LG-KOICA Hope TVET College in Addis Ababa, which has operated for more than a decade and become a regional training hub.
Under the Somalia initiative, trainers from Elman Peace Centre will first undergo certification and instructor training in Ethiopia before returning to Mogadishu to teach Somali students.
Courses will focus on electrical equipment servicing, information technology hardware, networking, entrepreneurship and life skills — sectors organizers believe align with Somalia’s growing urban economy and demand for technical services.
Seunghwan Yang, head of LG Ethiopia, said the company hopes to replicate its Ethiopia experience in Somalia.
“Through this initiative, we will continue supporting vulnerable youth in Africa in achieving self-reliance and developing into skilled professionals,” Yang said.
Peace through employment
The programme also reflects a broader shift in international development thinking in Somalia, where donors increasingly frame economic inclusion as central to long-term peacebuilding.
Rather than treating security and employment as separate issues, the partnership positions jobs and technical skills as tools to reduce fragility and social exclusion.
Ilwad Elman, chief operating officer of Elman Peace Centre, said the initiative is about building systems that can sustain opportunity beyond short-term aid cycles.
“We are not only expanding access to technical training, but helping build the local systems, standards and expertise needed for Somali youth to participate meaningfully in the jobs and service economies of the future,” she said.
KOICA Country Director Wankyu Park described the collaboration as an example of how governments, businesses and civil society groups can work together across borders to address instability in the Horn of Africa.
As Somalia pushes toward greater stability after years of insecurity, organizers say the initiative could become a model for how international development, local organizations and the private sector cooperate in conflict-affected states — with employment, rather than emergency aid alone, at the centre of recovery.
