Tapping the Reservoir Assessing the Impact of Financial Services for Youth in Morocco from SEEP Network on Vimeo.

On June 12^th , 2013, SEEP hosted a discussion on the financial education and loan program impacts from MEDA's YouthInvest (YI) project in Morocco and Egypt.

Today's youth are remarkable reservoirs of energy, knowledge and potential. However, poverty and a lack of access to services severely limit the ability to harness this energy. The lack of economic opportunity contributes to the stagnation and endless cycle of hardship within families. Providing financial services to youth creates an untapped opportunity to develop markets, bring people in from the margins and give them the tools with which to help themselves.

Currently there are more than 100 million youth between the ages of 15 and 29 in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, approximately one third of the region's total population. In Morocco, young people constitute 30% of Morocco's population and one tenth of the region's total youth population. [1]

With the support of the MasterCard Foundation, MEDA's 5 year YouthInvest project has worked with national NGOs and MFIs to harness this untapped segment to provide access to youth appropriate financial products and non-financial services.

In 2011, MEDA launched a study to assess the initial impacts of the loan program by interviewing youth loan recipients, training participants, and a control group of non-participants as well as MFI staff. The study focused on the impact of loans designed for youth clients in Morocco as well as mandatory financial education training youth required before accessing these loans.

• Adil Sadoq (YouthInvest Field Project Manager)

• Nicki Post (MEDA Sr. Project Manager)

• Khadija Saoudi (YouthInvest Deputy Director)