World Youth Skills Day 2015

With the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and UNESCO’s Education for All (EFA) campaign coming to their term in 2015, more young people than ever around the world have gained access to education. This has sparked career expectations and raised hopes for a better future in many young people. Education, skills and jobs are rated high in people’s priorities for development: in the global My World 2015 Survey, young people up to the age of 30 across all regions and education levels rated education as their number one priority, with better job opportunities being the third priority.

Yet globally,

• youth represent 25% of the total working age population but make up 40% of the unemployed (ILO, FAO, 2013).
• almost 74 million young people (aged 15 to 24) were looking for work in 2014 (ILO, 2015).
• two thirds of youth in developing economies are without work, not studying, or engaged in irregular or informal employment (UNDP, 2014).
• never before have there been so many young people on the planet: 1.8 billion people are aged 10 to 24 (UNFPA, 2014)
• the working-age population is poised to more than double in the least-developed countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2015 and 2050 (UNFPA, 2014)
• the youth unemployment situation is common to all regions in the world and is happening despite improvements in average educational attainment (ILO, 2015).

Never again is there likely to be such potential for economic and social progress. How we meet the needs and aspirations of young people will define our common future. Skilling people through relevant and good-quality vocational education is seen as a factor that can really make a difference in the global youth employment crisis. Yet weak governance structures are key factors holding back the increase of employment opportunities for youth and the sustainable development of countries and economies.

WYSD Event in Bonn

The United Nations in Bonn will observe the first World Youth Skills Day together with guests from Bonn University, WorldSkills competitors and UN Bonn staff with a panel discussion on “Youth skills for work and life in the post-2015 agenda”.

• When? 15 July 2015
• What time? 16:00
• Where? UN Campus Bonn

Speakers:

Carina Lange is the 2015 German Youth Delegate to the United Nations. She was selected by the German Government to represent young people in United Nations decision-making processes

Max Dolge is competing at the upcoming WorldSkills competitions in Sao Paulo in August 2015. He is a trained cook and has passed the national selection rounds to compete in Brazil

Elena Singer is a WorldSkills champion: she won the Silver medal at WorldSkills Leipzig 2013 in Print media technology

More information: www.unevoc.unesco.org/wysd