Welcome and Opening
Gudrun Kochendorfer-Lucius, Managing Director, InWEnt-Capacity Building International, Germany

Emmanuel Jimenez, Director, World Development Report 2007, World Bank

Dinner

09:00  -- 09:30

Keynote
François Bourguignon, Chief Economist and Sr. Vice President, Development Economics, World Bank

09:30
-- 11:00

Session II: Schooling

Chair: Boris Pleskovic, Research Manager, World Bank

Speakers:
Nicholas Barr, Professor, European Institute, LSE, London, UK
William Lyakurwa, Executive Director, African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Kenya
Yasu Sawada, Associate Professor, Department of Advanced Social and International Studies, University of Tokyo, Japan

Session Summary: For countries with a "youth bulge" a still sizeable older working generation can create an opportunity too finance quality imporvements in education and training- but many countries are squandering it. For others with a still growing school-age population behind the youth, resources will be stretched to the limit unless they are used judiciously. Can educational systems cope wtih the demands of those who are leaving primary schools in unprecedented numbers? What are the implications for access to secondary and higher deucation? Should the curriculum be more focused on vocational or academic subjects? What about programs for out of school youth who have dropped out earlier?

Session III: Work

Chair: TBA

Speakers:
Jean-Paul Azam, Professor of Economics, University of Toulouse, France
Anjini Kochar, India Program Director, Stanford University, USA
Francis Kramarz, Head, Research Department, INSEE-CREST, Paris, France

Session Summary: A "youth bulge" can be an advantage in fast-growing economies because it creates enormous flexibility in the labor market without necessarily dislocating existing workers. But one challenge is to ensure that youth employment is not about done with  shunting the young from one into unskilled dead-end job to another, from which it may be difficult to recover. Another is to address the political obstacles which may inhibit the mobility of skills to where the jobs are located. At what age do young people tend to enter the labor force - to what extend does this vary across types of countries? What is the evidence on the relative difference in lobor market outcomes (unemployment rates, labor force participation rtes, job search times, wages) between youth and adults? How has this changed over time? What kind of support can the young get to help them as they enter the labor market? How can economic policies enable expectant young graduates to ge gainfully employed? What programs are available if their expectatioins are not met?

Session IV: Migration and the Young

Chair: Cornelia Richter

Speakers:
Christian Dustmann, Professor, University College London, UK
Robert Lucas, Professor of Economics, Boston University USA

Session summary: Migrants are predominantly young.  The imbalances in the distribution of the age structure in the population will only increase the pressure on them to move – out of rural and into urban areas, out of low-wage countries to richer ones.  What are the likely trends?  What are the predominant determinants of migration? Are there changes in the type of migration – from permanent to temporary?  What are the implications of migration on sending communities?

Departure for Dinner at the Restaurant "Kafer" Reichstag Building

Reflections:
Angela Josiah, National Youth Chairman, Red Cross Society, Sierra Leone
Arturo Rombolio, Project Manager, World Organisation of the Scout Movement, Geneva

Session V: Forming Families

Chair: TBA

Speakers:
Jere Behrman, W.R. Kenan Professor of Economics and Director of the Population Studies Centerm University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Jacques van der Gaag, Professor of Development Economics, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Stephan Klasen, Professor of Economics, Chair in Development Economics, University of Goettingen, Germany

Session Summary: There are enormous personal and societal challenges as the young start their own families, especially for girls. The inevitable propensity for youths to engage in risky behavior can lead to very early pregnancy, which has negative consequences for both teenage mother and child, and to premature death, through HIV/AIDs and violence. But the young’s attitude towards marriage and fertility are also the leading edge of a country’s social transformation. What are the changes in behavior regarding family formation (age at which they leave home, marry, have sex, have children) that are most important to the welfare of the young both now and in the future? What can be done to help them avoid the direst consequences of their risky behavior, such as death from HIV/AIDs, now the deadliest killer of girls in many countries, and drug abuse?

Session VI: Becoming Citizens

Chair: Michael Hoffman, Director General, Global and Sectoral Tasks, European and Multilateral Development Cooperation, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany

Speakers:
Jean-Philippe Platteau, Professor and Director, Center for Research in the Economics of Development, Facultes Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix, Namur Belgium
Philippe Schmitter, Professorial Felllow, Department of political and Social Sciences, European University Institute, Italy
Rafael di Tella, Professor, Business, Government and the International Economy, Havard Business School

Session Summary: The young are energetic and creative – and that energy can be easily influenced.  The most fertile grounds for recruitment for political parties and militarist groups are the minds and hearts of the young; and their large numbers mean that even small efforts can have high yields.  But these energies can also be (and have been) directed towards more productive development purposes – which have yielded some best practice programs. Can the creative and impulsive energy of the young be directed productively to support development thinking positively? Or will it lead to a frustration and despair that will destabilize society? Are there public policies that deter youth crime successfully? This is obviously related to the education (before) and labor market (after) sections, but there are also policies directed specifically to criminality that are relevant. Young people are also likely to be the target of violence. What more can be done to protect young women and other vulnerable groups? A related but separate issue is the propensity of youth to engage in extremist activities, including political violence. Not much may be known about this. But it is an enormous fear among many governments and the question is what policies can be brought to bear?