Join Forces
Public and private organizations can work together to pool resources and maximize action to have even more of an impact on skilling for youth.

Young people can achieve greater success in work and in life with strong support behind them. And public and private organizations can strengthen their support for skilling by joining forces.
Steps you can take
Collaborating for greater impact and to standardize certification are two important reasons for public and private organizations to work together on skilling.
Public-private collaboration for impact
Public and private organizations can collaborate nationally and regionally. Pooling resources makes it easier to raise awareness of the skilling gap and to actively support skill development for young people.
With a shared agenda on skilling for youth, public-private collaborations can maximize all forms of action in this area.
One such partnership is the Girls’ Education Skills Partnership – comprising the UK Government and global businesses. This new initiative will train 1 million girls and women aged 13–24 years in skills to promote their success in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
Another is the public-private initiative Mamelodi Business Hub, which has given young people in South Africa a space to hone their entrepreneurial skills.
As well as help to change individual lives for the better, this approach will drive progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Both businesses and governments have an important part to play in meeting the targets on time.
Collaboration to standardize certification
Businesses can work across sectors and hand in hand with government to push for wider recognition of ‘micro-credentials’ and other certification. Micro-credentials are used to certify the completion of shorter courses or training.
Together, public and private organizations can also drive standardization of such credentials. This will let the young people who accrue them move more easily from learning to earning – and between employers.
For more on how business and government can collaborate on skills certification and standardization of micro-credentials, read the GenU Reaching YES report.
Stronger support for skill development is possible when public and private organizations join forces. Start working together now to have more of an impact on the skilling journeys of today’s youth.