The missing layer: Mentorship in Uzbekistan's youth support system
Description
This policy brief examines the role of mentorship in strengthening Uzbekistan’s youth support system. Uzbekistan has developed substantial financial and institutional channels for young people, including mahalla-based outreach, social registries, education measures, entrepreneurship support, and targeted youth programs. However, the next practical challenge is to improve how these resources help young people make realistic decisions about employment, skills, entrepreneurship, and social mobility. The brief argues that structured mentorship can serve as a missing guidance layer within the existing youth support system. Mentorship is understood as regular guidance provided by trained and accountable individuals with relevant experience. It differs from one-off motivational events or masterclasses by offering sustained, practical support that helps young people weigh options, sequence decisions, avoid common mistakes, and make better use of available public programs. International evidence suggests that mentoring can improve educational, career, and youth development outcomes, although its effects are usually modest and depend strongly on match quality, mentor preparation, supervision, and safeguarding. Mentorship should therefore complement, not replace, existing finance, education, employment, and social protection measures. The brief highlights that mentorship already exists in Uzbekistan through several targeted initiatives, including university admissions support, women’s entrepreneurship programs, and start-up mentoring. The policy opportunity is to connect and standardize these efforts into a broader guidance mechanism linked to existing youth-support and mahalla delivery channels. The brief recommends starting with a limited, independently evaluated regional pilot, with mentor training, safeguarding, and a formal decision point before any national scale-up.