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Youth and adolescent skills building

The partnership with DP World implemented country wide, while some interventions will be focused on selected locations and serve as a model approach with potential for scale-up in other BiH education administrative areas.

Youth and adolescent skills building

Context:

The 2018 PISA results in BiH showed that 15-year old students in BiH are on average about three school years behind their peers in OECD countries. The minimum level of functional literacy is not attained by more than50% of students in mathematics, reading, and science. BiH has one of the largest youth unemployment rates worldwide at 39%. 65% of young people never attended training or courses apart from those offered in regular education. Effective career counseling, opportunities, vocational and technical training are scarce and underfunded. The gender gap exists in specific fields, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and related occupations, with the percentage of women working in the information technology (IT) sector being at 25%.

Combating youth unemployment and skills mismatch requires provision of access to learning and skills developing opportunities, practice-based job training and employment support. Provided with a mix of soft skills and key competences aligned with the needs of the private sector, young people will become more employable and equipped for working in the 21st century labour market.

The aim of the proposed intervention is to contribute to the empowering young people of BiH to become active and productive members of their societies and equip them with skills necessary for their easier transition from education to work. This will be done through a range of skills-building activities, internships, mentorship and strategic partnerships with education institutions, civil society organizations, and private sector. The partnership will be implemented country wide, while some interventions will be focused on selected locations and serve as a model approach with potential for scale-up in other BiH education administrative areas. Additionally, joint activities between youth from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will be organized to strengthen collaboration between them.

Objectives of the partnership:

1. Support selected Ministries of Education in providing training and internship opportunities within education processes in selected high schools

2. Creation of the Youth Innovation Lab offering young people opportunities to obtain entrepreneurial, ICT, and transferable skills and to receive seed funding for the most successful project ideas, and/or solutions

3. ICT skills-building programme primarily focusing on young women and girls through IT Girls programme and joint bootcamps with UNICEF Serbia

4. Sub-regional cooperation with UNICEF Serbia office on skills building programmes, supporting cross-country cooperation and inter-cultural dialogue and youth participation in these processes.

Expected Results:

  • Supporting selected Ministries of Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina in providing opportunities for practical learning and on-the-job skills attainment to students in selected highs schools•
  • IT Girls Clubs have been established in 30 primary and 100 secondary schools and necessary equipment and training has been provided to teachers, reaching 500 girls from primary, and 1,500 girls from secondary schools with advanced digital and programming skills
  • 2 Summer bootcamps for Digital and ICT Skills are organized for 100 participants
  • Best solutions from the Summer bootcamps to take part in the World Summit Awards for Young Innovators to support promotion of girls in STEM
  • 6 UPSHIFT Skills Building Programmes through which:
  1. mentorship is provided to 450 (300 from BiH and 150 from Serbia) young people
  2. 20 thematic workshops on transferable skills building, entrepreneurship and employability are held
  • Train 1000 youth from BiH and Serbia in 21 century skills through online trainings
  • Mobilize and engage 8.000 youth from BiH and Serbia through U-Report platform in setting priorities and addressing issues relevant for youth in BiH
  • 25,000 adolescents and young people will be reached directly and indirectly throughout this programme activities