The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO has launched the global skills academy with the aim of equipping one million youth with employability and resilience skills.
The Global Skills Academy will help the youths to find jobs during the looming recession which is inevitable as a result of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project “Skills for a Resilient Youth in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond”, was unveiled during the celebration of World Youth Skills Day.
Members of UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition, launched in March to support countries in developing inclusive learning solutions, are teaming up to provide youth with opportunities to gain digital skills and other competencies through free access to online skills development programmes.
Partners’ offers will be pooled within the Global Skills Academy, providing a one-stop access to training opportunities.
The Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO, Stefania Giannini, said “the crisis has highlighted the urgency of equipping youth with the right skills to accelerate the transition to more inclusive, sustainable and resilient economies.”
Stefania also made it known that “this requires massive investment in education and skills training and expanded partnerships with employers to narrow the gap between demand for skills and the 21st century workplace.
The Academy will operate through a matching process facilitated by UNEVOC, UNESCO’s global network for institutions specialized in Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
The impact of the pandemic on both education and employment has been dramatic. Students enrolled in training institutions and apprentices have been particularly affected by closures as they are more dependent on practical training and hardware that is only available in training centres and workplaces.