On World Youth Skills Day, July 15, Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) celebrates the contributions that young people make in shaping a better world for all. CJI also supports initiatives to equip young people with the skills they need for dignified employment, entrepreneurship, and full participation in the economic, political, and cultural life of society.
CJI highlights its support for a project by Fe y Alegría that aims to improve access to fair and decent employment for at-risk and vulnerable youth across Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Cuba. The project provides participants with training programs that align with current labour market demands and that actively transform their lives and their communities. The program also includes career orientation, vocational testing, job fairs, internships with private sector employers and professional employment placement within 17 designated Fe y Alegría education centres.
Founded in 1955 by Jesuit priest José María Vélaz, SJ, Fe y Alegría is a federation of local educational institutions that provides education to marginalized populations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Learn more about this project: https://bit.ly/44t3TE8
According to the UNESCO, the theme of this year’s observance of World Youth Skills Day, Skills for a shared future, focuses on “the need to develop innovative youth skills that prepare young people to successfully participate in societies and economies, where they can lead with empathy, communicate across cultures, build resilience and contribute to a better future.”
Young people “need more than technical skills alone,” said UNESCO, citing how artificial intelligence, the green transition and rapid societal shifts are changing the nature of work. “They need a balanced set of competencies that combines technical, digital, AI, green, socio-emotional and civic skills with the human qualities that technology cannot replace.”
