300 Youths Sign Up for UNICEF's FunDoo Life Skills Chat Bot in 24 Hours

KINGSTON, 8 December, 2023 – More than 300 adolescents signed up for FunDoo, a new life skills coach launched by UNICEF in Jamaica on December 6. The UNICEF Team threw out the challenge to the more than fifty young people who were present at the launch and in just 24 hours, the chatbot was buzzing with activity as not only did 300 youths sign up but 200 of them accessed the mentorship task.

Females accounted for more than 70 per cent of those who registered and the parish with the highest number of signups is St. Catherine.

Aligned with the 21st Century Skills Framework, FunDoo addresses relevant employment skills, beginning with a set of essential soft skills highlighted by youth, including emotional management, identifying strengths, and finding mentorship. The chatbot was launched in partnership with the HEART NSTA Trust with support from FLOW, Digicel, and Project Star and is endorsed by the Ministry of Education and Youth and the Minister with responsibility for Skills and Digital Transformation. Every two weeks new tasks will be added.

Speaking at the launch, Olga Isaza, UNICEF Jamaica Representative pointed out that UNICEF is keenly interested in supporting the national priorities for youth – that of reaching and engaging youth who are not employed, neither are they in school, nor enrolled in any form of training programme. “We are helping young people to transition into these opportunities,” she said.

In her keynote address, Minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Skills and Digital Transformation, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, highlighted that UNICEF’s commitment to the welfare and development of Jamaican children has been exemplary. She noted that the true measure of preparedness for the working world lies in the cultivation of soft skills.

The WhatsApp-based FunDoo now joins a suite of services for young people that are offered on the U-Report platform, including U-Matter – a 24/7 mental health chatline – and the recently launched Yute Chatz, which empowers youth with sexual and reproductive health rights information.

U-Report is a UNICEF initiative that is operating worldwide, in 95 countries. Leading up to the launch, more than 200 young people, including students from the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf, actively engaged in focus groups to ensure that the chatbot was uniquely Jamaican. There are approximately 13,000 U-Reporters in Jamaica.

Youth are encouraged to sign up for this life-changing chatbot by texting the word “FunDoo” to UNICEF’s U-Report WhatsApp number, 876-838-4897. Once complete they will be prompted to register.