COVID-19 has tested the resilience of economies, societies, and individuals with lockdowns, social distancing, quarantine, job losses and disruptions in young people's social and educational development. In these unprecedented times, young people are find fewer available jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities.

The rapidly changing nature of work requires youth to have resilience – the ability to quickly adapt to changing circumstances and to bounce back from setbacks. However, many questions remain:

• Is a person's resilience determined by genetics or prior exposure to adversity?
• Can youth be "taught" how to be resilient?
• What could a resilience training program look like? 

This webinar discussed programs that have implemented activities to build emotional resilience among youth.

Watch the recording here!

For a country as large and diverse as India, the TVET system faces considerable pressure to address the growing need to equip youth with market-relevant skills to access jobs or start a business.  How should a country then prioritize its scarce resources to invest in a TVET  system at a sub-national level that meets the employers’ demands for a skilled labor force while also addressing the needs of the vulnerable populations? 

The Skill Development Priority Index, developed by National Skill Development Corporation, provides an analytical framework for identifying priority states and clusters that can benefit from well-targeted skill development programs.

This webinar is part of the ongoing knowledge learning strategy of S4YE that focuses on how organizations are developing innovative solutions to support youth employment.

Watch the recording here!

The need for digital skills across all sectors and jobs has accelerated since the beginning of COVID19. A recent joint IFC-WB study found that demand for digital skills training will surge in the coming decade and that significant opportunities exist to increase the role of the private sector in meeting the digital skills gap. Education providers, policy makers and the private sector will need to work together to address the challenge. 

How do education institutions address the growing demand for digital skills? What role do big tech and smaller private sector education technology companies play? And how can governments collaborate with the private sector to reach underserved populations at scale? The webinar co-organized by S4YE and IFC dug deeper into these questions through a panel-style session with leaders from the space, including higher education, big tech, local education technology companies and government.

Video recording =>>

The 2021 virtual Sustainability Exchange took place on June 9. With the world reawakening and economic activity rebounding, sustainable infrastructure in emerging markets will play a critical role in ensuring an inclusive COVID-19 recovery and a more equitable future. The event explored unique viewpoints and paths to solve challenges related to mega-trends and emerging industry issues, with a focus on 1) Climate change and just transitions in energy and mining, 2) Urban transit and smart mobility, 2) Technology, transparency, and responsible leadership, 3) Sustainability-linked finance and 4) Gender equality and youth inclusion.

S4YE moderated the breakout session on Digital Solutions for Rural Livelihoods focused on exploring how technology can help youth agri- entrepreneurs learn and make informed decisions, increase productivity and incomes.

Speakers:

• Marisa Conway, Chief Learning Officer, Arifu -  a personalized learning company that offers agronomic advice and financial skills training to farmers through mobile phones
• Brian Bosire, Founder of UjuziKilimo -an agricultural technology company bringing precision farming technology to small-holder farmers

The recording of the session is available online=>> 

The COVID‒19 pandemic has accelerated the importance of flexible and remote jobs.  Such jobs could also help increase the inclusion of people with disabilities. In our recent report “Digital Jobs for Youth with Disabilities,” S4YE highlights strategies that programs have used to increase the inclusion of youth with disabilities in digital jobs.

In this webinar, S4YE shared key learnings from our report on the design and implementation of digital jobs & training programs for youth with disabilities. Speakers discussed possible solutions and challenges faced by practitioners in integrating assistive technologies, working with the private sector, and designing inclusive training programs to increase opportunities for youth with disabilities.

Speakers:

• Katherine Guernsey, Agency Disability Rights Coordinator, USAID
• Tiziana Oliva, Managing Director, Global Influencing and Programs, Leonard Cheshire
• Colin Blackwell, Founder, Enablecode
• P. Rajasekharan (Raja),  Co-founder, V-Shesh

Watch the recording from the session=.>>

 

The transformation of economies and societies towards technological innovation and sustainability will offer the young population better employment opportunities in the future. But youth have an active role in generating sustainable employment solutions for youth.

This webinar explored how organizations empower youth innovation and entrepreneurship for social and environmental impact and feature youth initiatives for the green economy:

• Learnings from Oxfam Novib and on what works and what does not in youth innovation programs based on its The Work in Progress! and Empower Youth for Work programs,

• Learning from Work4Progress platform and tech challenge solutions in India, including e-rickshaw initiative
• Presentation of Young Innovators’ solutions and perspective on challenges and opportunities for sustainable innovating for youth in Bangladesh, Nigeria, India and Ghana.

This webinar is part of S4YE’s Youth Innovating for Youth webinar series.

 

Watch the recording here!

The outbreak of Covid-19 has accelerated efforts by practitioners to move learning, skills building and mentoring online rapidly. Practitioners need to address how they will reach the youth in low bandwidth areas. If this is not confronted, the youth in rural, remote, and disconnected areas will be further marginalized. The webinar featured selected strategies identified in the recent S4YE Knowledge Brief on Online Learning Models for Youth in Low Bandwidth Areas, such as mobile vans used by Save the Children Skills-to-Succeed Program in Bangladesh and bite-size mobile learning courses of Every1Mobile.

Speakers:

• Monica Caminiti, Director, Skills to Succeed, Save the Children
•  Atik Chowdhury, Project Director, Skills to Succeed- Bangladesh, Save the Children
• Jocelyn Williams, Director, Business Development, Every1Mobile

 Discussant:

• Iñaki Sánchez Ciarrusta, Analyst, Global EdTech Team, World Bank

Watch a recording from the session=>>

 

On Wednesday, 28 April, the Vitae team presented how they are helping higher education institutions to improve their graduate employability. A demo of the benchmarking tool was presented, which measures the standing of a higher education institution in its implementation of best practices that drive employability, then makes recommendations to positively impact career outcomes for graduates.

The webinar offered an overview of the Vitae product offerings:

• Employability Benchmarking – Vitae’s benchmarking exercise enables a higher education institution to quickly self-assess its employability practices through a short questionnaire.
• 360° Assessment – This review of current practices helps an institution determine whether course selection and instructional processes are aligned with labor market needs if there are adequate mechanisms for student service provision, and if systems are in place for collecting and acting on industry feedback.
• Vitae Bespoke Advisory Services – After the 360° assessment, institutions can request IFC’s advisory services to provide training, guidance, and advice during the implementation process.

Co-hosted by the Skills Global Solutions Group, COREHEG, and S4YE.

Recording of the session=>> 

On Tuesday, 13 April, the S4YE hosted a webinar together with Commonwealth of Learning on how TVET institutions can approach teaching practical skills online through a blended model. For more than 30 years, the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) has focused on the potential for open and distance learning to increase access to quality education in developing countries.  Even before the pandemic, COL was piloting a model blending online and workplace learning to make TVET more accessible and relevant to help solve the global skills development challenges. However, the pandemic has broadened interest in online methods.

This webinar covered COL’s experiences so far, including:
•    The opportunity to innovate to overcome existing TVET challenges building on decades of experience in Australasia, Africa, and Asia,
•    COL’s model of online plus workplace learning,
•    Lessons from projects that worked on teaching practical skills in trades like construction, woodworking, and cell phone repair in Nigeria, Zambia, and Tuvalu.

Watch the video recording here!

 

Providing support to young people through this crisis is crucial as the pandemic has disproportionately affected young people and women. Global Mentorship Initiative provides guidance and business skills to underserved college students through online mentorship, with over 1,000 students and mentors currently involved in the program.

• Learn about Global Mentorship Initiative’s online mentorship model and practical examples of how the team has designed and rapidly scaled the program,
• Get to know about challenges faced by young people entering the global workforce today, and
• Hear about mentors’ and students’ experiences from around the world.

This webinar is part of the ongoing knowledge learning strategy of S4YE that focuses on how organizations are developing innovative solutions to support youth in the wake of COVID-19.

Watch the video recording here!