University Content Collaboration Series: Youth-Led Insights on Skills & Livelihoods
Youth-led research on the skills and livelihoods challenges shaping their future – mentored by UNICEF Generation Unlimited.
About
The University Content Collaboration (UCC) initiative partners university students with UNICEF's Generation Unlimited (GenU) to explore evidence gaps in youth skills and livelihoods – producing applied, practice-oriented research with actionable insights for programmes, partnerships, and policy.
GenU supports each student researcher team in a mentorship capacity: providing guidance, technical inputs, and quality assurance throughout the research and writing process, while the analysis, arguments, and conclusions remain entirely the students' own. The result is a growing library of youth-generated evidence and a new generation of researchers, evaluators, and change-makers building real-world experience along the way.
The 2025 edition of UCC featured knowledge products covering a wide range of thematic areas such as Work-Based Learning, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), AI Implications for Entry-Level Work, Volunteerism.
Policy Brief: Building Youth Resilience Through High-Quality Work-Based Learning (WBL): Case Studies on Germany and China by Jiner Fan & Xingxuan Xi from Columbia University SIPA and Northeastern University.
Thought Piece: From Learning to Earning: Making TVET Work for Migrant Youth in Colombia by Maria Hernández-Pinto & Maria Alejandra Salinas from Georgetown University.
Research Brief: AI and Youth Employment Across Geographies: Implications for Entry-Level Work by Yejin Lyu & Ahin Jung from Columbia University.
Case Study: From Service to Salary: How Community-Based Research is Shaping Youth Employment – A case study from the American University in Washington, DC by Samantha Chai & Sharaf Tariq from Georgetown University.
The views expressed in these products are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position of UNICEF's Generation Unlimited.
