World Youth Skills Day in challenging circumstances
Today, it’s World Youth Skills Day. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been a difficult year for many young people. Children and students still have to face challenging contexts with often no or difficult access to education or training. The 2021 edition will pay tribute to the resilience and creativity of youth through the crisis.
Education and training play a crucial role in the development of youngster’s skills. UNESCO estimates that schools were either fully or partially closed for more than 30 weeks between March 2020 and May 2021 in half the countries of the world. Not only schools were closed also enterprises and organisations brought skills development almost to a standstill due to lockdown measures introduced during the pandemic and with education and training systems yet to return to pre-crisis conditions. Therefore this Day is even more important and focuses on the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work, and entrepreneurship.
Looking beyond the COVID-19 crisis and recovery is essential. The youth population will grow by more than 78 million between 2021 and 2030. Low-income countries will account for nearly half of that increase. Education and training systems need to respond to this challenge.
In recent years EFDN organised the EFDN Youth Exchanges at multiple occasions. Young people’s development in both footballing and social skills can be enhanced by participation in exchanges, trips, and festivals and by getting involved in activities like workshops, debates, role-plays, outdoor activities and more, that work towards shared themes of objectives. 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.
Youth Exchanges take place outside the conventional environment of the participants which encourages them to learn a lot about themselves. About their own character, good features, shortcomings, abilities, power, and… what the effect of all this is on others. EFDN Youth Exchanges already have proven itself: there are examples of youngsters going home a completely different person.
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. Strategies to overcome these barriers will be explored. The exchange will make participants feel confident in taking part in all aspects of society, improve their English skills and learn them a lot about the life of young people from very different countries and cultures. In that way, a Youth Exchange brings the ideal of global citizenship to life. Participants are encouraged to use this 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.
In the past years, Youth Exchanges took place among others in Arnhem, Tel Aviv, Rotterdam, Larnaca and Nijmegen, Breda, and Lisbon. EFDN members that interested in joining or hosting a Youth Exchange in the future, can contact the EFDN staff via email or the EFDN networking app.
The exchange programmes are organised in partnership with the European Union and National Erasmus Agencies and the participant’s learning experiences are recognised through a Youth Pass qualification.
