UKABC’s partner Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, are partnering with UNICEF to support youth in Myanmar and Vietnam. With the shared goal of ensuring every child has an opportunity to receive an education, the partnership will focus on equipping young people with 21st-century employability skills so they can create entrepreneurial solutions to the barriers they and their communities face.

Helping young people help their communities

With Pearson’s support, Unicef will scale up a fantastic initiative called UPSHIFT, which helps young people from a wide range of backgrounds to identify, analyse, and take action to address challenges in their communities. Delivered by local teachers, youth facilitators, and community leaders through a series of workshops, young people will be taught crucial skills such as critical thinking, communication, team skills, project design and management and business planning. By supporting them to bring the solutions for their communities to life, they can then go on to support tens of thousands of their peers and grow into the business leaders of the future.

UPSHIFT in action

This innovative programme has already been successfully trialed in Kosovo and Vietnam. In Vietnam, UPSHIFT saw business ideas being developed and brought into existence by young people participating. Ideas included a job search site for the blind, a curriculum and resources that can be used to teach primary school children about respiratory health issues, and a training course for students on how to help people with disabilities to benefit from public transport.

How it makes a lasting impact

Southeast Asia is experiencing a staggering population boom with more than half of the 630 million people in the region under 30. This is a huge proportion of young people who have the potential to significantly boost the prosperity, stability, and well-being of their countries. By working together, we hope to directly impact over 3,000 young people through the programme and indirectly over 20,000 of their peers.

By giving young people the tools and resources to create their own solutions to the barriers they face, the Pearson and Unicef partnership will help thousands of children gain important skills, and leave a lasting legacy to their communities.