Ye! Celebrates Youth Skills Day 2020
Youth Skills Day is celebrated on 15 July every year to highlight the importance of quality education (SDG 4) for youth. This year’s theme “Skills for a Resilient Youth in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond” highlights the increased difficulty of accessing quality education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To celebrate Youth Skills Day 2020, the ITC Youth & Trade programme and its Ye! Community of young entrepreneurs organized the following special programme to showcase how youth are continuing to learn and adapt during the crisis, to build resilience for the future.
A number of a various virtual activities were held throughout the course of the day. Take a look!
Web Story on a TVET in the Gambia -Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) institutions have had to switch from teaching in the classroom to distance learning. In our web story on The Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI), we spoke with Institute Director-General Edward Mansal, to learn how they have transformed hygiene practices and their educational programmes by using an innovative approach to post-pandemic learning. Read the web story here.
Virtual interviews with the youth – For World Youth Skills Day, we wanted to learn more from the perspective of youth around the world about how their experience with distance learning has been so far. Throughout the course of 3 short interviews, featuring 3 youth enrolled in various TVETs and who participated in the ITC RESI (Refugee Employment and Skills Initiative) bootcamp in Dadaab, we shed light on the various ways they are continuing to learn and access education during the pandemic. We also asked “What does skills for resilience mean to you?” Watch the videos below:
Interview with Online Freelancer Raha
Interview with Mechanical Engineering Student Babucarr
Interview with Engineering Student Mamudou
Looking forward: Preparing youth with resilience for a post-COVID-19 world
In continuing with the theme of WYSD 2020, the Ye! Community is organizing various efforts to prepare youth with skills to take on the challenges of a world after COVID-19. Since the onset of the crisis, the Ye! Community has adapted its offering to address the varied challenges youth face due to the crisis, as well as shed light on certain opportunities that may have become newly available. We took a survey earlier this year to identify the specific needs of youth-led businesses in the crisis. The results of this survey will be published shortly. We also organized a series of webinars under the theme ‘Coping with COVID-19’ where we connected youth entrepreneurs with various experts and business professionals to share their insights on how youth entrepreneurs can weather the storm. In our First Aid Kit, we raise awareness on the resources available to youth-led businesses, and finally, we scaled up our mentorship for risk and crisis management.
Looking beyond the era of COVID-19, the Ye! Community is preparing to provide additional support and opportunities to the youth entrepreneurs and the Business Support Organizations (BSOs) that serve them. See two of our upcoming virtual activities listed below:
Online Workshop for Business Support Organizations : Jointly led by experts from the International Trade Centre’s Institutional Strengthening Section and facilitated by Andre Maciel, co-founder of the Impact Hub Brazil, this workshop is open to all BSOs interested in strengthening their support for youth entrepreneurs. 17:00-18:30 (CEST), 22 July 2020. Register here. Save the date now!
Ye! Enterprising Youth Webinars: Connect with Experts and Business Leaders: Under one of the three themes or series: Connect, Learn, or Share, each webinar will bring you information from our vast partner network, from within ITC, or from the youth entrepreneurs that make up the Ye! Community. Look out for more of these webinars throughout 2020.
Join us for the Ep1: Linking Youth Ventures with African Investors. Brought to you in collaboration with the African Business Angels Network (ABAN), this episode aims to connect youth entrepreneurs with angel and impact investors working in East Africa. The upcoming episode will take place on Tuesday 21 July, 2020 at 11:00 - 12:15 Register here to attend!
(Blog header credit: UNESCO)