DECENT JOBS FOR YOUTH ACADEMY

This Academy aimed to deliver a comprehensive and structured capacity development programme designed to equip participants to advance decent work for youth. It provided participants with core knowledge on youth employment while placed a strong emphasis on practical skills for effective implementation of policies and programmes that create a lasting impact on youth.

OBJECTIVES

The Academy aimed to:

• Discover effective tools for designing and implementing evidence-based youth employment policies and programmes that foster job creation and prepare young people for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

• Explore impactful employment solutions tailored to specific youth groups, including young women, migrants, refugees, rural youth, and those in fragile contexts.

• Learn about mechanisms to enhance youth engagement in policy and programming, with a focus on promoting youth participation in social dialogue and tripartism.

• Build practical skills to develop and implement policies and programmes that create meaningful opportunities for youth.

CONTENT

The Academy covered following topics:

Online phase:

The online phase laid the groundwork for understanding youth employment challenges, offered insights into key barriers and opportunities across different country contexts. It also provided a guided pathway for designing and implementing youth employment interventions and prepared participants to make the most of the face-to-face phase.

Face-to-face phase:

• Plenary sessions, with keynote speakers on cross-cutting topics, sparked debates and encouraged sharing of experiences and best practices, featured keynote interventions followed by open exchanges.

• Hands-on elective courses ran in parallel. Participants could choose from a range of interactive courses which focused on problem solving and cocreating solutions, conducted in three 90-minute sessions.

• Knowledge fair on youth employment best practices. A flexible, informal space where participants could present and discover innovative tools, approaches, and products that promote decent work for youth.

• AI-powered simulations on soft skills for policymakers and practitioners. During breaks, participants could use Virtual Reality devices and received AI-based personalized feedback to develop practical skills to bridge the gap between policy design and implementation.