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Good practice Imported

Yoma Digital Marketplace — AI-Matched Learning Pathways for Youth in Burundi and Beyond

Burundi · Makamba · See the Burundi profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 70% 40/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

UNICEF's Yoma platform, launched in Burundi and Nigeria in 2020, uses an algorithm to match youth to individualised learning and 'impact task' pathways based on stated goals and a psychometric profile, issuing blockchain-recorded credentials for completed opportunities.

250,000+
Participants (EC International Partnerships)
784,500+
Digital tokens awarded (EC)
2,465,510
Youth engagements (UNDP Digital X)
105,000+
Registered users (UNDP Digital X)
45,500+
Completed opportunities with certificates (UNDP Digital X)
4,200
Young women invited to gender-inclusion pathway
270
Gender-inclusion pathway completers
Yoma Digital Marketplace — AI-Matched Learning Pathways for Youth in Burundi and Beyond

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
UNICEF Generation Unlimited (with GIZ, Fondation Botnar, RLabs)
Period
2020–2025
Keywords
youth employment, digital skills, non-formal learning, social protection

Context

Yoma (Youth Agency Marketplace) is a digital platform built by UNICEF's Generation Unlimited with GIZ, the EU/BMZ and Fondation Botnar; young people complete a profile, and a matching engine recommends learning courses, volunteering tasks and livelihood opportunities recorded as blockchain-backed digital credentials.

Activities

The platform launched simultaneously in Nigeria and Burundi in July 2020, including a Kirundi-language rollout reaching youth in Makamba Province.

Results

The European Commission reports over 250,000 participants and 784,500+ digital tokens awarded; UNDP's later case study reports 2,465,510 youth engagements, 105,000+ registered users and 45,500 completed opportunities with certificates; a gender-inclusion pathway invited 4,200 young women (83% of invitees), of whom 270 completed it.

Conclusions

The Zlto token reward system is redeemable only in South Africa and Nigeria; none of the sources provide longer-term employment or earnings outcomes, and the wide spread between engagements and completions across sources suggests most youth interactions do not convert into a completed credential.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
UNICEF Generation Unlimited, GIZ, RLabs (local implementer)

Conditions for success

  • Multi-language rollout (e.g. Kirundi for Burundi)
  • Blockchain credentialing infrastructure

Common failure modes

  • Zlto token redemption restricted to South Africa/Nigeria
  • Large drop-off between engagements and completions across all reported sources

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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