The United Nations’ annual celebration of International Youth Day on August 12th offers a valuable time for international development stakeholders to reflect on their goals and activities. Whether or not one’s project and activities are youth-led or youth-focused, young people are integral partners to building and sustaining global development efforts.
This year, Q2 Impact is proud to showcase our programming which enhances young people’s digital skills across the world to design and implement youth-led digital solutions to address community challenges and bring about positive change.
Under the USAID Jordan Youth Grow Activity, Q2 partners with the Ministry of Youth to implement the Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Model within Youth Centers across the country. The YES Model is a holistic framework that equips diverse youth populations with the knowledge and practical skills needed for personal and professional career growth through active youth participation. In response to the employment gaps facing marginalized youth in acquiring essential 21st-century skills, Q2I expanded the YES Model to include a skills-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) training program. AI trainings have engaged over 200 young people aged 18-29 and focus on introducing young people to the field of AI, how to apply and benefit from AI, and how to translate AI data into useful information to influence evidence-based decision-making. These AI trainings provide young people with in-demand competencies and enhance their employability prospects in the digital economy.
In Turkmenistan, Q2 implements the Youth Development Activity which provides Turkmen youth with relevant labor market skills to foster employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for diverse youth populations. Under the project, Q2 implements an iterative and intensive six-month TechYouth Bootcamp program that equips young people aged 18 to 25 with in-demand IT skills. Participants, including young women and youth with disabilities, master one of the following areas: website development, mobile app development, graphic and UI/UX design, or IT systems maintenance and administration. Over half of the TechYouth Bootcamp participants have found employment or have started working as freelancers proving the efficacy of such a program on enhancing inclusive economic growth in Turkmenistan. Today, on International Youth Day, we celebrate another fantastic cohort of TechYouth Bootcamp participants who are graduating from their course in Turkmenabat.
Globally, Q2 implements The Makusudi Game, a gamified adaptive leadership and management tool used by stakeholders to support more localized and inclusive problem-solving. The scenario-based game is rooted in Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) practices, leveraging individuals’ strengths and collective teamwork to effectively collaborate, learn, and identify or map out pathways for localized and sustainable change. For example, in Jordan, youth participants mapped out a learning pathway to address the localized challenges of the labor skills gap that diverse Jordanian youth experience in their communities. USAID staff in Egypt and Uganda have also used The Makusudi Game to strategically plan and engage with community stakeholders including young people.
