Mernet, 23, was one of the fortunate ones. Her family supported her dreams and paid for her clinical nursing degree from Ri Valley College in Jimma city, a rural part of southwestern Ethiopia. She even got a job offer she was excited about.

Unfortunately, the job was located in a town an hour’s drive away. Her father told her she needed to stay closer to home, under the watchful eyes of her family, she recalls. “[He said:] ‘It is very far, my daughter; you are still my little girl. We don’t know the people and culture there. An opportunity will come close to our homeland; don’t give up hope.’”

Three years on, Mernet still didn’t have a job. Most of her friends were also unemployed. Ethiopia has very high unemployment rates, especially for young people. In urban areas, unemployment rates for young people are as high as 20 percent; rural areas are only slightly better.

“My hope of getting a job and advancing my education was further fading away slowly,” she says. “Every day, I felt the burden of my friends and community making silent comments about my joblessness.”

That’s when she learned of the Community Service as a Pathway to Work (CSPW), a partnership project between the Mastercard Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and Youth Network for Sustainable Development (YNSD) in Ethiopia.

The initiative aims to engage, over five years, roughly 500,000 youth in community service through which young people, primarily women, can learn work skills while combating systemic barriers to work. The goal is to help young people get employed or even start their own businesses.

Since the program began in May 2023, nearly 40,000 young people are already participating in community service as part of it.

As part of CSPW, Mernet began volunteering at the local hospital, as an assistant clinical nurse. The hospital was close to home, and it gave her an opportunity to help brush up on her skills while looking for paid work.

“In fact, I used to come every day to the hospital, far beyond the requirements of the community service program,” she says. “Serving people was ingrained in my mind when I was a little child. I remember the day I had tonsilitis. The nurse then gave me medicine that immediately helped me. Since then, I dreamt of doing the same for people.”

Soon enough, the hospital staff noticed how well Mernet handled jobs assigned to her. “They were giving me roles that I accomplished perfectly,” she said.

After five months volunteering, a job came open for a clinical nurse position. She applied and got it.

“By staying dedicated and putting in the effort during my community service, I was able to prove my competence to the hospital staff,” she says. “The community service experience allowed me to refine my professional abilities and demonstrate my commitment to serving others, which helped me transition into permanent employment.”

After signing the employment contract, Mernet went straight to her father to tell him the news. “We cried for joy in each other’s embrace,” she says.

Mernet still has ambitions to be a surgeon, and she believes there is nothing she cannot do if she works hard.