Youth

As a global partnership that attracts and pools investment for young people’s education, learning, skilling, entrepreneurship and employment, Generation Unlimited (GenU) can play an important role in supporting the global response to COVID-19 and address both its short- and long-term impacts.  Young people are already among those affected the most…, GenU Frontrunner Countries responding to COVID-19, UNI287671 UNI287671, India, YuWaah!  – Generation Unlimited in India – is working to reassess its short-term strategic direction and align with the immediate needs of India’s young people in the face of the pandemic. For example, it is developing an online career guidance and counseling network with the aim of reaching 16 million young people. It is also exploring a…, South Africa, UNICEF South Africa is collaborating with UNDP to explore a last-mile ecosystem model that would leverage a network of unemployed youth as community ambassadors to facilitate the sales and distribution of various types of goods in the community during COVID-19. Utilizing existing technologies, the intention is to create digital jobs for youth,…, Nigeria, All schools in Nigeria have closed indefinitely due to COVID-19 and more than 39 million students have been removed from the traditional educational context. To mitigate the negative impacts on education outcomes, UNICEF and GenU are working to increase the availability of e-learning platforms, while also utilizing traditional media – including…, GenU partners responding to COVID-19, UN0210160 UN0210160, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, The Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) is scoping a multi-million dollar investment to start, support and accelerate digital learning for primary, secondary and tertiary education in India, with the goal of delivering digital learning opportunities for one million children in the state of Rajasthan hit hard by COVID-19. Further, CIFF …, Education Commission, Secondary education is critical to prepare youth for the workforce and life, but projections from 2019 indicate that of the 1.5 billion school-aged children in low- and middle-income countries well over half – 870 million – will not be on track to acquire the minimum level of secondary skills by 2030. COVID-19 is likely to exacerbate these trends…, International Labour Organization (ILO), GenU and the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth (DJY) will jointly host the Knowledge Facility, a one-stop-shop for resources for both partnerships and their members to learn, share, and engage on youth education, decent work, and engagement through curated tools, data and resources. Building on the existing  DJY Knowledge Facility , GenU …, SAP, SAP  partners with more than 1,200 nonprofits and social enterprises which collectively serve more than 4.5 million youth across 105 countries, in areas of quality education, decent work and youth entrepreneurship. To support these organizations, as well as the World Health Organization and CDC Foundation, the company has established a €3 million…, The World Bank, The World Bank has announced the approval of  operational support  in developing countries of up to $160 billion globally in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The response is tailored to addressing the health, economic and social shocks that countries face, and aims to strengthen their pandemic response and health care systems, protect the poor and…

Victoria Quaynor, 21, Ghana, works as a Child Rights advocate at “Curious Minds”, a broadcasting platform centered around ensuring that all children and young people are well informed and participating in decision-making that affects their lives by advocating, generation knowledge, sharing information, building partnerships and training young…

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are critical for jobs of the future. As technology and innovation change the face of the global economy and the way people and nations interact, there is an unprecedented need for youth – no matter their location or resources – to gain STEM and 21st century skills. The New York Academy of Sciences…

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), nearly 3.6 billion people remain unconnected from the internet, and by extension, unconnected to digital products and services that could dramatically improve their lives. Approximately 29 per cent of 18–24-year-olds – around 360 million people globally – do not have digital access,…

The African Union Commission (AUC), Generation Unlimited and UNICEF have committed to a partnership to support young people on the African continent and align efforts around the Commission’s 1 Million by 2021 Initiative . The initiative focuses on providing young people opportunities in education, employment, entrepreneurship and engagement,…

This  blog  was first published on  Voices of Youth , a global community for young people to learn about development issues (such as Environment, Education, Human Rights, etc) and to express their opinions. Voices of Youth seeks to create a space that will help young people develop into active global citizens equipped to communicate and…, 1. Before talking about it, let’s put a definition on it., As said before, this  sci-fi  term brings a lot to mind but do we know what it really means? According to the  OECD , the  World Economic Forum , and the  ILO  we could say that “ Future of Work ” (FoW) is a concept used to describe the consequences of major trends including the rise of exponential technologies (like Artificial Intelligence) and…, 2. It’s not bad or good, it’s the future, it’s just different., When I started digging into the  FoW scope , I found that every year a lot of big organizations make different reports on the topic where the main highlights are “ Robots could take over 20m jobs ”. Pretty scary, right? Every industrial revolution brought a lot of changes, and this is not going to be the exception to the rule. The thing is, that…, 3. Spoiler alert: young people, we’re not in the loop., All of these studies and reports show and agree that the people who will be affected the most by these changes it’s going to be us: young people. Why us? It’s simple, they are talking about  our future . But, there is another problem: we’re not in the loop. High-level academia, Governments, Organizations and the corporate world are all talking…, 4. Before educating young people, we have to train teachers first., Okay, but how do we get students into the topic if teachers aren’t prepared for it? That’s a new challenge that appeared soon after talking to educators. They’re not ready yet, we have to provide them with the tools, knowledge, and skills needed to introduce students into the  FoW world.   How do we create accessible and easy content to implement…, 5. This goes beyond young people too., We were talking about young people and our future but, what happens with the people that are already part of the workforce and their job is changing right now as we speak? We have to include older people and families into the scope too.  This is where  lifelong learning  policies come in because it’s a key element for preparing and adapting people…

Launched at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2018, Generation Unlimited has generated broad interest from government and leaders from industry and other key sectors committed to cohere efforts around young people for large-scale impact. Download Our Journey in Review to learn more.

Young people today face many economic, social and cultural challenges. The types of skills needed in the labour market are changing. Technological changes are making many jobs vulnerable to automation, a large portion of job creation is driven by entrepreneurs and small businesses, while education systems are outdated and fragmented. These…

Following the launch of Generation Unlimited at the 73 rd  session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2018, 2019 was rich in partnerships and results for and with young people. Download our 2019 Annual Report to learn more.  

Twelve-year-old Waibai Buka (centre), holding a computer tablet provided by UNICEF, raises her hand to answer a question at a school in Bagai, northern Cameroon, Tuesday 31 October 2017. A staggering number of young people are left outside of economic and livelihood opportunities around the world. Globally, an estimated 23% of young members of…

Ulises Brengi, 22, Argentina, started a youth-empowerment initiative at 16 that focused on recycling in public high schools, works to engage young people on human rights, and now studies Landscape Architecture in Buenos Aires while also serving youth-led organization “Eidos Global” to equip young people with soft and digital skills for the future…