World Youth Skills Day

The United Nations, at its General Assembly in November 2014, declared 15 July as World Youth Skills Day. WorldSkills is proud to be part of a global recognition and promotion of skills.

Notes

The UN designated day seeks to generate greater awareness of and discussion on the importance of technical, vocational education, and training and the development of other skills relevant to both local and global economies. It is hoped that it will contribute to reducing unemployment and underemployment among the youth across the globe. It will highlight youth skills development to draw attention to the critical need for marketable skills. WorldSkills will support this globally important topic via the broad spread of activities and initiatives in our six focus areas all aimed at raising the profile and recognition of skilled people, and showing how important skills are in achieving economic growth and personal success. Inspiring, educating, and developing youth is an integral part of this.

*On 18 December 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus, a resolution, spearheaded by Sri Lanka, declaring 15th July as the World Youth Skills Day. Sri Lanka initiated this resolution, with the assistance of the G77 & China, to highlight at a global level, the importance of youth skills development. The goal is to achieve better socio-economic conditions for today’s youth, including as a means of addressing the challenges of unemployment and under employment. The UN Secretary - General’s Special Envoy for Youth, Mr. Ahmed Alhendawi, and his office supported this initiative from the early days, while the UN system in New York and Colombo were solidly behind it.

Since it was first suggested in the Strategy Committee, WorldSkills International has pursued a World Skills Day but, once connections were made with the UN in New York, WorldSkills International fully supported the proposal of Sri Lanka for a World Skills Youth Day.