APYouthNet Blogs
Community blog postings on latest updates and issues related to APYouthNet
I know politics - International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics
The International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics (iKNOW Politics) is an online workspace designed to serve the needs of elected officials, candidates, political party leaders and members, researchers, students and other practitioners interested in advancing women in politics. It is a joint project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA). More info at: http://www.iknowpolitics.org/homepage
Young workers speak: Make decent work for youth a reality
Philippines Information Agency Press Release, April 13th, 2010.
First Pacific Portal on Youth Employment
The ILO Pacific Youth Employment Programme titled Sub-Regional Programme on Education, Employability and Decent Work for Youth in Pacific Island Countries and the Pacific Youth Council signed a five month Service Contract today, 30th November 2009. The purpose is to create a portal to share information and stimulate discussion on youth employment on the Pacific Youth Council website. This Service Contract is for five months beginning 1 December 2009. This initiative is in line with one of the ILO Youth Employment Programmes Immediate Objectives of enhancing the knowledge of how to better address the challenges faced by young women and men in securing decent wage and self-employment.
Investing in Young People - Financial Times Special Report
The Financial Times publishes a new report on 'Investing in Young People', showing that the power of technology to create new opportunities cannot be overestimated. Download the report at: http://www.ft.com/reports/young-people-2010
Sri Lanka: Vocational training for plantation youth
The Youth Employment Project (ILO/Japan) promotes vocational training for livelihood enhancement for youth living in plantation estates. One of the estates involved in the project - Pussellawa estate – facilitated training for youth who wish to start their own businesses inside the estate.
Sri Lanka: LMI unit focusing on youth employment
The Provincial Council for Sabaragamuwa Province has set up a Labour Market Information (LMI) unit. The unit analyzes provincial labour market changes and patterns. Key is also general monitoring of the labour market to enhance vocational training forecasting and planning.
Sri Lanka: Job Bazaar promotes employment for 134 youth
The District of Ratnapura undertook a job bazaar to bring together young job seekers, employers and training providers.
Sri Lanka: A Youth Employment Committee takes up the challenge
The District Secretary of Kegalle District successfully called for and implemented a meeting in the Youth Employment Coordination Committee. The objective of the committee is to coordinate policy and implementation of youth employment interventions involving a range of stakeholders and partners.
Sri Lanka: Chambers of Commerce to enhance youth employment
The Youth Employment Project (ILO/Japan) works with the Chamber of Commerce (CoC) in Kegalle District. With technical assistance and support from the project, the CoC will a) set up six business clusters, b) analyze and enhance value-chains for each cluster and c) formalize the clusters into small business associations to be affiliated with the CoC.
Sri Lanka: Youth employment and SIYB Master Trainers
The Youth Employment Project (ILO/Japan) was invited to present its activities and outputs at the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) annual refresher course for Master Trainers. The project with its key partners and stakeholders provided a resource input on how the project works on youth entrepreneurship. This is done through SIYB training, mentorship training and awareness creation on the importance of youth entrepreneurship. The SIYB Master Trainers are key in delivering and quality assuring ILO’s global SIYB and KAB products. The SIYB trainers from the Youth Employment Project (ILO/Japan) were trained by SIYB Master Trainers. The project's SIYB trainers were trained in April 2009 (Tamil medium) and October 2009 (Sinhalese medium). A training programme for a new batch is planned for early 2010.
APYN is getting better and BETTER
Although the idea of creating a community of practice on youth employment began a few years ago – for me, the community was “born” in November 2008 during the Visioning Workshop: http://ap-youthnet.ilobkk.or.th/resources/seminar-and-workshop-materials/regional-visioning-workshop-apyouthnet-community-of-practice
As you can see, we are currently enhancing the portal to be more interactive and user-friendly. We’d like to hear your comments on what you like, don’t like, and what more can be done to make our virtual community’s home "sparkle". Also, what are some ways that we can promote and encourage other people to join – particularly youth?
APYouthNet belongs to all of us; it’s important that we make sure it grows up to be a happy and healthy community! We look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Business English for the world of work
A working knowledge of English has proven to be an asset for youth in search of work. As part of the ILO Youth Employment Project in Sri Lanka, a batch of 30 school teachers working in plantation and adjacent areas have been trained. This has upgraded and enhanced their skills and knowledge on business English for school to work transition. In a cascading effort planned for the remainder of the project's lifetime, the 30 teachers will reach 20 young people each - or a total of 600 youth.
To read more and see pictures from this activity: http://ap-youthnet.ilobkk.or.th/photo-gallery/ilo-ye-initiatives-in-sri-lanka/business-english-for-the-world-of-work-2009/
Are there any other projects/initiatives to equip youth with a working knowledge of English that you can share? Food for thought – is English the language that youth should learn, why not another language?
The private sector saving schools
The recent extreme weather in South-East Asia has revealed an interesting public-private partnership. This article from ABS CBN News briefly describes the Philippines' Adopt-A-School programme, an avenue for the private sector to support public schools. Donors receive tax incentives for providing support. In this case, the Phlippines Education Secretary, Jesli Lapus, is calling for private donations to support public schools damaged by the recent extreme weather.
Does anyone else know how successful this funding avenue is, either in response to emergencies or otherwise? Or of examples from other countries of the private sector actively supporting public schools? There are examples of companies supporting schools in exchange for advertising space or the the opportunity to sell products. Do any such collateral issues arise here?
