On Wednesday October 24, Tajikistan launched a Youth Challenge to develop projects aimed at increasing secondary-age education, skills for learning, employability and professional preparedness of young people.
This initiative is organized and supported by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Committee for Youth Affairs and Sports under the Government of Tajikistan.
“Young people are some of the best inventors, creators, and innovators out there. We hope this challenge will inspire incredible ideas from Tajikistan to help tackle some of the pressing challenges facing young lives today," said Luciano Calestini, UNICEF Representative in Tajikistan.
Organizers encourage young people who are 15 to 24 years old to actively participate and submit social project ideas aimed to answer below questions:
1. How can we expand access to knowledge and skills for: a) young people with disabilities; b) young people from remote mountainous regions?
2. How we can prepare better young people in Tajikistan for contemporary needs of the job market?
Young people who are interested to participate need to create a team of 3 to 5 people and fill out application form on an official website of the contest – www.navovar.tj
Teams, who will advance to the next round of selection, will participate in social innovation workshop using UPSHIFT (PESHSAF) methodology. This training will take part towards the end of November 2018. After the completion of the workshop, 5 most promising project ideas will be selected and supported with seed funding and mentorship for the teams.
The Youth Challenge of “Generation Unlimited” is taking place in 16 countries worldwide, including Tajikistan. In spring 2019, shortlisted projects from each country will be submitted to a global judging process. The winning projects will receive further support, along with a tailored mentorship program from Generation Unlimited partners for scale up.
Winning applicants will contribute to the success of Generation Unlimited, which is a new, ambitious partnership – launched at a high-level event during the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly – aimed at getting every young person into quality education, training or employment by 2030.
With 1.8 billion young people in the world, Generation Unlimited, is a dynamic global partnership that draws on the expertise of young people, representatives from governments, multilateral organizations, the private sector and civil society to inspire urgent investment in education, skills training, and empowerment for the rapidly growing global population of adolescents and young people.
