It might not get as much press as other international days, but 15th July is World Youth Skills Day, and since it celebrates something that is very close to our hearts at Connect Three, we wanted to do our part to spread the news about the great work that happens internationally because of it.

What is World Youth Skills Day?

The UN created the day back in 2014, with a goal of “celebrating the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship”.  Now, annual events in countries across the world are held to create a dialogue between young people, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, firms, employers’ and workers’ organisations, policy makers and development partners.

Why is it important?

Did you know:

• UNESCO estimates that schools were either fully or partially closed for more than 30 weeks between March 2020 and May 2021 in half the countries of the world.
• In June, 19 countries still had full school closures, affecting nearly 157 million learners and 768 million more learners were affected by partial school closures.
• Young people aged 15-24 have been even more severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis than adults. Globally, youth employment fell by 8.7% in 2020, compared with 3.7% for adults.

The consequences of all of this disruption to the early labour market experiences of youth could last for years to come.  So what can be done?

What can I do?

If you want to attend the live event, you can register here.  Otherwise, why not use today and this week as an opportunity to start dialogues with the youth in your employment about what skills they need to develop in order to progress this year and beyond.  If there are no people in your employment under the age of 24, now is the time to discuss with your team how you can help address that, and prepare for the next wave of graduates and the additional skills help they might need after the events of the last 2 years.