Empowering ASEAN’s young people through skills, employment, opportunities, and partnerships

https://www.unicef.org/eap/press-releases/empowering-aseans-young-people...

Bangkok, 16 November 2021: UNICEF East Asia and Pacific, the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, the EU-ASEAN Business Council, and UNDP are co-hosting a virtual forum to help boost partnerships and opportunities for adolescents and youth across the region.

The event, Unlimited ASEAN: Empowering ASEAN’s Young People will be held on Wednesday, 17 November 2021, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Bangkok time. Participants include partners from countries and industries across Asia and the Pacific.

The meeting aims to advance investment, research, and partnership opportunities focused on supporting young people’s empowerment through future-oriented skills, decent employment, and entrepreneurship.

Despite high economic growth and technological innovation, youth in the region – especially young women and vulnerable groups – face many hurdles in accessing resources and opportunities, a situation exacerbated by COVID-19.

Generation Unlimited (“GenU”) is a global, multi-sector partnership to meet the urgent need for expanded education, training, and employment opportunities for young people. It connects businesses, governments, international organizations, and youth to catalyze investments towards youth development.

Through GenU, UNICEF East Asia and Pacific is embarking on a strategy to transform young people’s futures in ASEAN. Together with partners, UNICEF and GenU are convening key public and private stakeholders as well as young people who have a common goal in response to national and regional priorities.

The Unlimited ASEAN Forum will discuss sustainable solutions to ensure that every adolescent and youth across the region has access to best-in-class digital, financial and 21st century skills, training, and job opportunities. To move the agenda forward, it will encourage high-level, scalable commitments and public-private coordination among key actors. Together, they will identify evidence gaps and promote linkages across partnerships and programmes for and with young people.

Discussions will highlight learning gaps created by COVID-19 and lessons learned with a focus on digital learning solutions for the most marginalized adolescents and youth. It will identify critical challenges for youth in the labour market and explore policy measures for a human-centred recovery and future of work. Experiences will be shared to promote entrepreneurship and youth-led enterprises.

The sessions will feature key speakers from Ericsson, SAP, Google, Capgemini, Microsoft, HSBC, the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, EU-ASEAN Business Council, ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, GenU, Happy Grocers, Microsoft Philanthropies, Generation Girl, EdTech Hub, Arus Academy, Philippines Business for Education, Quicksand Design Studio, Project I.D., Znesia Hub, International Labour Organization, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, ASEAN CSR Network, WISE, Impact Collective, Ira Concept, Lota+, Term-Naam, Chumbaka, Memori, Accelerating Asia, Demi Laut, Phum Impact Battambang, Sienna DMB Sdn Bhd, Impact Hub, ASEAN Youth Organization, UNICEF and UNDP.

The Unlimited ASEAN Forum expects to leverage regional knowledge and promote firm commitments and investments from governments, business, and expert organizations on the right to education, skills, and decent job opportunities for all young people.