The Government and the Youth

The first $400 payment has been made to 700,000 participants of the YOUTH IN ACTION program, which plans to disburse $560 million by December 31.

This is the fourth edition of the program, supported by the World Bank, and aims to integrate people aged 18 to 29 into the labor market. In the current cycle (November‑December 2026), tasks related to disaster risk reduction for El Niño have been included.

Although this type of action is not a direct solution per se to the problem of youth unemployment, it provides a clear incentive for beneficiaries to obtain a kind of grant‑based micro‑credit—i.e., without the obligation to repay—so they can organize and launch ventures.

Looking at the initiative from a distance, I see a similarity with the successful experiment of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, “the banker of the poor,” who facilitated micro‑credits for people with limited resources and no access to the formal financial system.

After all, $800 is not a fortune. But it can make the difference between having a small fund to start a business and not having access to money, or having it but being subjected to extortion by scammers and fraudsters.

Even if the youth spends the $800 on anything—from paying a family debt to a local shopkeeper to buying clothes or other goods—that stimulates consumption and creates a virtuous cycle of boosting commerce during this time of year. The aid is even more significant when viewed in the context of disasters caused by El Niño.

Therefore, the $560 million of the YOUTH IN ACTION program is not, in the strict sense of the word, an expense. It is an investment with high economic and social impact. That is the truth.

It is very different from the petty approach of labeling YOUTH IN ACTION as an attempt by the government to win votes. And if there is any of that, it would barely be a “bounce‑back effect.”