Competencies and skills development
Integrating 21st-century skills, critical thinking, computational thinking, AI literacy, green skills, collaboration and socioemotional skills
Millions of children leave school without the skills they need to participate in a digital world. UNICEF focuses on integrating 21st-century skills – including AI literacy, green skills and digital competencies – and building flexible pathways towards lifelong learning.
Many children leave school without the competencies needed in modern workplaces. This creates a widening gap between what education systems deliver and what labour markets demand. Out-of-school children lack options to acquire recognized competencies for employment and as a complementary pathway to reintegration into formal schooling.
Focus areas
- Integrating 21st-century skills – critical thinking, computational thinking, AI literacy, green skills, collaboration and socioemotional skills – with a strong emphasis on empowering girls
- Designing multiple flexible pathways to accredited competencies, including digital micro-certification for out-of-school learners and adolescent girls who cannot access traditional schooling
- Social innovation and entrepreneurship programmes that empower young people to identify community challenges and create entrepreneurial solutions, building digital and employability skills simultaneously
- Providing free job-relevant skills training through partnerships with public and private sector content providers
- Championing Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education.
- Connecting schools to cutting-edge technologies with equity by design