Adolescence skills and innovation
Adolescents and youth, especially the most marginalized, are empowered with skills and competencies for the 21st century and their access to employment is facilitated
The challenge
UNICEF-supported desk reviews and studies conducted in 2015, 2017 and 2018 on marginalization and the exclusion of adolescents and youth (aged 10-24 years) in Tajikistan confirmed that poor education – along with lack of opportunities for meaningful employment in the country once the young people leave school – drive high rates of mostly outbound migration among the young people (females make up approximately 18 per cent of these migrants). These adolescents and young people are dissatisfied with the economic situation, quality of education and lack of opportunities.
In total, 504,799 adolescents and young people (15-24) were not in employment, education, and training (NEET) in 2016, corresponding to a NEET rate of 30 per cent among young people. Notably, the NEET rate among females is nine times higher than that of males. In total, the labour potential of one in five young people is underutilized.
The highest school dropout rates in Tajikistan are found among adolescents, and the rate of completion of post-compulsory secondary education (Grades 10 and 11) is declining. Deprivation analysis has found that girls aged 11-17 are approximately twice as likely as boys to be deprived in school attainment, school attendance, and education in aggregate (1.95, 6.76, and 6.43 percentage points of difference respectively). This may be because girls tend to drop out of school earlier than boys, after age 15 when they complete the mandatory lower-secondary education.
The solution
With the skills and innovation component of our work, UNICEF aims to see every adolescent girl and boy, including the most marginalized, empowered for a successful transition from school to a productive, active life. In coordination with our partners both from the Government and the development community, UNICEF is creating referral pathways within both formal education (schools and first-level vocational training institutions) and non-formal education settings. Each proposed pathway provides specific learning, skills building and employability opportunities, covering various cohorts of adolescents and young people but focusing on the most marginalized.
In coordination with partners from the Committee for Youth and Centres of Additional Education, UNICEF is establishing Adolescent Innovation Labs as informal vocational training spaces around the country.
At these Labs, UNICEF is helping to unleash the creative potential of the youth by building their skills for the 21st century and helping them to become social innovators within their communities.
Building on this step, UNICEF is introducing the “UPSHIFT” standardized social entrepreneurship curriculum within the Adolescent Innovation Labs. Through this curriculum, adolescents and youth, including the most marginalized, will develop social entrepreneurship skills.
They will have opportunities to create innovative projects and solutions to address challenges affecting themselves and their communities, as well as start social enterprises, including through the application of digital platforms.
Using modern technologies and digital spaces as an entry point, UNICEF is building professional and workplace skills, with an emphasis on digital training among the most marginalized adolescents and youth (specifically those who are not in employment, education or training), and facilitating access to professional experience and employment. Using impact sourcing as an employability model and business outsourcing as an entry point that UNICEF is establishing with the Ministry of Labour, Migration, and Employment, the trained adolescents will be linked to existing and newly established employment opportunities within socially responsible digital businesses at home and abroad. This will promote the creation of a digital workforce that can plug and play into any environment, industry or skill in situ, and also establish a solid foundation on which adolescents and young people can build rewarding careers.
