The Game Changers Coalition
Equipping young girls around the world with the 21st century skills they need and want, to be the designers of a more inclusive, diverse, and secure digital future.
Every year, adolescent girls and young women in low and middle-income countries miss out on $15 billion in economic opportunities due to the digital gender gap.
Within the gaming industry, less than a quarter of the workforce are women, yet girls represent about 50 per cent of the world's gamers. Innovative approaches, co-created with and for girls, and in partnership with the tech and gaming industries, can dramatically shift the needle in building a more inclusive digital environment for adolescent girls.
Building on UNICEF’s existing work of providing girls with digital and 21st-century skills through the Skills4Girls portfolio, spanning 22 countries and reaching close to 6 million girls, UNICEF is announcing the Game Changers Coalition - a partnership call-out to the gaming industry and beyond to equip this generation of girls with the skills they need and want in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) to become coders, designers, and leaders of a more inclusive, diverse, and safer digital future.
About the Game Changers Coalition
The Game Changers Coalition is a unique forum where international gaming companies, leading professionals in diversity and inclusion, gender equality and innovation, as well as bright and brilliant adolescent girls from around the world will play an active role in reimagining the future of gaming – building skills, expanding career opportunities, embracing inclusion, and embedding innovation and gender equality.
With partners from within the gaming industry and beyond, and with girls at the forefront, the Game Changers Coalition will:
- promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the gaming industry
- engage and finance concrete and measurable actions for girls worldwide, including skills building programmes through UNICEF’s country offices
- demystify professional pathways in the gaming industry for girls; and inspire young girls to enhance their STEAM learning and pursue future careers in this industry
- make girls and young women feel represented and safe in gaming
In May 2023, UNICEF convened experts representing 30 per cent of the global gaming industry revenue for an ideation session to shape the Game Changers Coalition and co-create the future of gaming. In a first for the sector, adolescent girls from India, South Africa, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Cambodia drove the creative process.
The Game Changers Coalition will operate on three pillars:
- Build Her Foundation
The Game Changers Coalition will spearhead an innovative STEAM curriculum aligned with the skills girls want and need to engage with the gaming sector and the industry – ensuring a smooth transition from learning to earning.
- Build The Game
Through this pillar, the Game Changers Coalition will promote frameworks and practices towards a gaming industry that is safe and inclusive for all girls and boys.
- Build the Global Network
The Game Changers Coalition will secure mentorships, global game jams, internships and other experiential opportunities to bridge the gender gap in digital skills and accessibility and advance girls' careers in the gaming and tech industries.
“Having industry specialists as our mentors has been life-changing. They teach us to think smart, to be creative and innovative, and to keep pursuing our dreams in the STEAM fields”
The game’s about to change. Join us!
UNICEF is calling for partners to join the Game Changers Coalition and become a part of achieving transformational change for girls everywhere.
To learn more about how to join the Game Changers Coalition, email innovation@unicef.org.
