UNESCO Global Skills Academy: Creating pathways to employment with Junior Achievement in the Americas
Junior Achievement inspires and prepares young people to succeed in a global economy. As a member of the Global Education Coalition (GEC) and in collaboration with UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy (GSA), Junior Achievement (JA) Americas will support more than 38,000 young people in LAC through different digital training programs to activate them for the jobs of the future.
With a focus on Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, and further access provided to almost 25 countries in LAC through digital programs, JA will implement five regional initiatives to provide young people with the necessary skills and attitude to access the labor market, or become entrepreneurs.
“We are proud of collaborating with UNESCO in our path to become exponential. JA is currently reaching 1.5 million students in the region annually, but this is just 1% of the youth population. This partnership with UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy will help us to expand our impact to more youth as part of our strategy of reaching 15 million in the coming decade”, said Leo Martellotto, President of JA Americas.
The programs included under the scope of the partnership are:
· Plan your Future: This program is designed to work on basic notions of self-knowledge, planning, interests, and skills for the labor market. Students acquire self-knowledge tools to discover and enhance their interests and aptitudes.
· Winning Women: Winning Women is a free, digital, self-instructional, and accessible training program aimed at vulnerable women who wish to develop their digital knowledge and foundational IT skills to work in a digital world.
· I Can Code: JA Argentina and Microsoft developed the program “Yo Puedo Programar” (I Can Code) that aims to empower youth between the ages of 14 to 18 to become the protagonist of their future. Developing computational thinking as the fundamental axis of global citizenship and providing tools that prepare them to function in 21st-century society.
· NAU Fest: NAU Fest is a virtual event created by JA Americas in collaboration with Latin-American youth, seeking to reconnect 30,000 underserved youth from 25 countries of the Americas with their future and the future of work. Its goal is to create an experience that combines inspirational content, hands-on learning activities and challenges, and youth networking.
· She is Digital: The program, developed by Junior Achievement Americas in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank, IBM, Amazon Web Services, and Cisco, is a high-impact regional initiative for training and employability in the digital economy. It focuses on vulnerable women and reducing gender inequality by promoting female employment in the technology industry.
“LAC is also one of the regions most affected by informality, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable during crises, preventing them from enjoying decent work and living conditions, and sustaining economic and social inequalities. After receiving a huge honor such as being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for a second consecutive year, the opportunity to implement JA programs in collaboration with UNESCO will help us to expand the visibility and reach of our programs, accelerating the region´s economic recovery” said Martellotto.
About UNESCO´s Global Education Coalition and Global Skills Academy
UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition (GEC) is a multi-sector Coalition launched in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic to protect the right to education during a time of unprecedented disruption from response to recovery. It brings together over 200 members from UN agencies, civil society, academia, and the private sector.
The Global Skills Academy (GSA) is one of three flagship missions of the Coalition, aiming to support 10 million learners by 2029 to develop digital and 21st century skills to increase their employability and resilience in a changing labor market.
