Today we celebrate World Youth Skills Day

World Youth Skills Day is celebrated on 15^th of July annually in many countries around the world. It all started in 2014, when the United Nations General Assembly declared 15 July as World Youth Skills Day, to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship. Since then, World Youth Skills Day has provided a unique opportunity for dialogue between young people, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, firms, employers’ and workers’ organizations, policy-makers and development partners.

This year, the World Youth Skills Day will be dedicated to the socio-economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic such as climate change, conflict, persisting poverty, rising inequality, rapid technological change, demographic transition and others. Education and training are central to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. The vision of the Incheon Declaration: Education 2030 is fully captured by Sustainable Development Goal 4 “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.

EFDN has launched a few projects in collaboration with European football clubs related to the professional development of the young generations. These projects have an impact on their social development by helping them explore their talents.

More about the projects and programs:

STEM NETWORK

STEM is a project related to four educational fields – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Within this project, the children have an opportunity to learn more about programming, making codes, and understanding technological devices. Recent estimates indicate that more than a million job vacancies in the STEM industry are still not occupied while at the same time only 16% of college students graduate in STEM fields or subjects. Demand for STEM jobs has increased threefold between 2000 and 2010, and continues to grow, with many new fields and professions emerging each day.

EFDN launched the EFDN STEM Network at Stamford Bridge, in London, in September 2019, together with 15 clubs and the Pro League with a goal to explore STEM education as a new community programme area and take their first steps toward driving innovation in STEM education through football.

EFDN STEM FOOTBALL & EDUCATION PROGRAMME

As part of STEM Network, the EFDN STEM Football & Education Programme is a pan-European project selected for financial support from UEFA Foundation for Children aiming to promote STEM Education amongst European youth. The main purpose of EFDN is to deliver STEM Education programmes across Europe using the power of football to keep children engaged and committed to learning. The European project includes various activities such as:

Assessing existing activities via a range of research methods, including primary research via interviews with key stakeholders and participating organisations, and secondary research via case study research and literature review.
Testing and developing the STEM Education Football Programme methodology in primary and secondary schools.
Evaluating, adjusting and further developing the methodology.
Developing the STEM Education Football Programme training materials, local delivery plan, partnership plan and quality guidelines.
Disseminating the STEM Education Football Programme Resources and organising a dissemination event in 2022.
Developing and maintaining an online platform with all programme resources.

EFDN YOUTH EXCHANGES

EFDN Youth Exchanges allow clubs to provide groups of young people from different countries to meet, live together and work on shared projects for short periods. During a Youth Exchange EFDN wants to promote the involvement of young people in their communities, and to discuss the potential invisible barriers in society. Youth Exchanges take place outside the conventional environment of the participants. At an EFDN Exchange programme, participants take part in activities such as workshops, exercises, debates, role-plays, outdoor activities and more, that work towards shared themes of objectives.

The exchange will make participants feel confident in taking part in all aspects of society and learn them a lot about life of young people from very different countries and cultures. It will also improve their language skills. Participants are encouraged to use this foreign opportunity to represent their home countries and share their own culture, while learning about and embracing a new one, forging the way to becoming young ambassadors for peace and international understanding. EFDN Youth Exchanges already have proven itself; there are examples of youngsters going home a completely different person.

The exchange programmes are organised in partnership with the National Erasmus Agencies and the participant’s learning experiences are recognised through a Youth Pass qualification.