skills

World Youth Skills Day

In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared 15 July as World Youth Skills Day, to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship. Since then, World Youth Skills Day events have provided a unique opportunity for dialogue between young people, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, firms, employers’ and workers’ organizations, policymakers and development partners.

World Youth Skills Day 2021 will take place in a challenging context, with the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in the widespread disruption of the TVET sector. While vaccination rollouts offer some hope, TVET still has a long road to recovery, especially in those countries which continue to be overwhelmed by the spread of the disease. Youth skills development will face a range of unfamiliar problems emerging from a crisis where training has been disrupted in an unprecedented manner on a virtually universal scale.

Young people aged 15-24 are particularly exposed to the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic. School and workplace closures are leading to learning and training losses. Major life-cycle transitions are made difficult if not impossible, including graduation from general education or TVET at secondary or tertiary level, residential autonomy, and labour market insertion.

TVET has a key role to play in fostering the resilience of young people. It is crucial for all stakeholders to ensure the continuity of skills development and to introduce training programmes to bridge skills gaps. Solutions need to be reimagined in a way that considers not only the realities of the present, but also the full range of possibilities for the future.

To learn more about how and why the UN commemorates this day, check out un.org/en/observances/world-youth-skills-day.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the vice chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Children’s Rights-NY, please visit childrightsny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN.

NGO CSW65 Youth Preparation Series: Presentation Skills Workshop

NGO CSW65 Youth Preparation Series: Presentation Skills Workshop

This event is part of NGO CSW-New York’s Youth Preparation Series for youth leaders and young professionals, leading up to NGO CSW65.

Led by Jenni Prisk, this session will provide you with techniques and skills to present your key messages with clarity, impact and poise, tips for online presentation, strengthen your voice in professional settings.

Register here!

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CoNGO Notes: For more information the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-New York, please visit ngocsw.org.  For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. 

[Virtual Panel Discussion} Skills for a Resilient Youth in the Era of COVID-19 & Beyond

World Youth Skills Day 2020 [virtual panel discussion]

Owing to the COVID-19 situation, the celebrations of the World Youth Skills Day 2020 will have a virtual format. A panel discussion will bring together multiple stakeholders in skills development including young people, member States, TVET institutions, the private sector, 4 workers’ organizations, policy makers and development partners. An online discussion with the audience will follow.

RSVP: cutt.ly/WYSD2020

The World Youth Skills Days is co-organized by the Permanent Missions of Portugal and Sri Lanka to the United Nations, together with UNESCO, ILO and the Office of the Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth.

The objectives of the World Youth Skills Day 2020 are to:

● Assess the situation of young people regarding skills required for work during and after the health and socio-economic crises brought by the COVID-19 pandemic;

● Learn how young people have been living through the crisis and mobilized; and highlight success stories of youth innovation and resilience;

● Share lessons learnt by TVET institutions and firms since the beginning of the crisis; this will include best practices in protecting apprentices, trainees and trainers and ensuring the continuity of training, and preparedness for further outbreaks of COVID-19 or other new diseases;

● Share experience in distance training, including no-tech, low-tech and high-tech solutions (use of mobile phone, TV, radio, offline and online devices, disruptive technologies such as using artificial intelligence, block chain technologies, big data analytics, drones, 3D printing, fab labs, smart agriculture, smart manufacturing, fintech, internet, etc.), and reflect on the use of distance training after the pandemic is over;

● Review prospects for skills development including apprenticeships as the economic crisis unfolds, and on the effectiveness of national recovery plans and support from development partners;

● Reflect on how skills development can help reconcile the short-term need for economic recovery with the urgent need for accelerating the transition to sustainable development;

● Launch the ILO Toolkit for Quality Apprenticeships Volume II for practitioners to improve the design and implementation of apprenticeship programmes; and

● Announce the winner of the ILO Innovation Skills Challenge Innovation Call, a global competition to identify innovative approaches to address skills mismatch.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing – Geneva, visit ageingcommitteegeneva.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing – NY, visit ngocoa-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing – Vienna, visit ngoageingvie.org. For information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, email the Chair, Rosa Perla Resnick at  rositaresnick@yahoo.com or the Vice Chair, Susanne Seperson at susanneseperson@gmail.com.

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