Why
The digital economy is rapidly transforming the employment landscape across industries, including financial services, health, entertainment, transportation and of course, information and communication technologies (ICT). Millions of jobs requiring advanced digital skills will be created in the coming decade, but many countries are projecting a shortfall of skilled workers to fill these jobs. While young people are often considered “digital natives”, the reality is that the majority do not possess job-relevant digital skills. In particular, jobs requiring coding and other advanced ICT skills are going unfilled.
HOW
The growth potential of the digital economy presents an opportunity for tackling the youth employment challenge. In June 2017, the ILO and the ITU launched a campaign to bridge the current skills gap. The goal is to equip five million young people with digital skills – both basic and advanced – by 2030. This will be achieved by mainstreaming digital skills into school curricula, establishing comprehensive on-the-job training systems and mobilizing job creators in the public and private sector to employ young people in digital-centric jobs. There will also be a strong focus on fostering youth-led digital entrepreneurship.
WHO
The ILO and the ITU are committed to leading on this thematic priority. Decent Jobs for Youth brings together a growing number of partners who are committed to identifying and scaling up effective strategies for equipping young people with digital skills.
Advanced IT training and employment in Africa
AmaliTech gGmbH offers employment pathways in the ICT sector to young graduates in Sub-Saharan Africa. Individuals have the opportunity to participate in a free, three to six months training programme, covering both hard and soft skills required to be successful in the ICT sector. After successful completion, trainees are offered jobs in one of AmaliTech’s service centres, where we connect them to European clients to provide high-quality digital services in software engineering, data science and other specializations. The programme aims to offer training to over 3,000 individuals and create at least 1,000 jobs in Ghana and Rwanda by 2025.
Empowering Youth in Africa with Digital skills
This programme aims to empower 50,000 Kenyan youth with Digital Skills, Professional and Problem-Solving and Entrepreneurship skills. The targeted youth are between 14 to 25 years old from high schools or recent high school graduates. The programme offers young people a 20-hour guided training with a flexible learning model. In Kenya, with the support of IBM, AFRALTI has partnered with the Government, universities and colleges, public and private schools, faith-based organizations, and community-based institutions.