The document discusses innovative ICT solutions for youth employment. It notes that 73 million youth are unemployed globally and there is a skills mismatch between what employers seek and how youth have been educated. However, ICTs are fueling new job and business opportunities in areas like microwork, crowdsourcing, and the app economy. The International Telecommunication Union has conducted research mapping ICT-enabled careers, entrepreneurship options, and learning opportunities. It also recently launched an online youth employment and entrepreneurship resources database. The document calls for youth to become ICT-savvy and outlines roles for governments, private sector, and organizations like the ITU to promote digital skills training and support youth employment and entrepreneurship.

1. Committed to Connecting the World
International
Telecommunication
Union
Susan Schorr
International Telecommunication Union
Digital Opportunities:
Innovative ICT Solutions for
Youth Employment

2. Committed to Connecting the World
 ITU conducted extensive
research on Digital
Opportunities to find
“Innovative ICT solutions for
Youth Employment”
 Mapping of:
 ICT-enabled careers for youth
 New entrepreneurship options
 New learning opportunities
 Action by Governments,
Private Sector, NGOs
 ITU recently launched a new
Youth Employment and
Entrepreneurship Resources
Database at
http://www.itu.int/ITU-
D/sis/Youth/Resources/
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3. Committed to Connecting the World
Today’s youth are facing
unemployment challenges
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73 MILLION
YOUTH ARE
UNEMPLOYED
GLOBALLY
- 621 million NEETs
- Youth comprise 17% of the
world’s population and 40% of the
world’s unemployed (ILO, 2013)
Skills mismatch
• Between what employers
seek and how youth have
been trained/educated
• Digital literacy skills as
important as reading and
writing
• More advanced digital
skills opens new
opportunities:
• BPO and microwork
• Apps economy
• Games and social
media
• Mobile phones

4. Committed to Connecting the World
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Wide range of
ICT-enabled
resources to seek
jobs or launch
businesses
Why include ICTs in
youth employment and
entrepreneurship strategies?
 To promote youth employment it is essential that youth
obtain digital skills.
 Youth without digital skills risk being excluded from a
growing number of job and business opportunities.
More jobs and
businesses
require ICT
skills
ICTs fueling
new and
innovative
ways of doing
business
More online
learning
opportunities

5. Committed to Connecting the World
Digital Opportunities for Youth
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6. Committed to Connecting the World
New employment opportunities
 Macro sectors
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Agriculture
• ICT-related job
creation through
various innovative
agriculture
productivity and
other data systems.
Health
• ICT-driven
innovations for
patient
communications,
diagnosis, data
management etc.
Offshore
• Opportunities for
emerging economies
to participate in
world’s service
industry through
ITO, BPO, and KPO.
 Emerging sectors
Microwork
• Small tasks broken
out of a business
process that can be
completed via
internet or mobile
devices.
Crowdsourcing
• Similar to microwork
but for people with
higher-level
technical skills and
involves larger
projects.
App Economy
• A new class of
entrepreneurs with
the rise of
smartphones,
tablets and social
media.

7. Committed to Connecting the World
Becoming ICT-savvy
 To benefit from these digital opportunities, youth need
to become ICT-savvy.
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Online skills
development:
• Virtual classrooms
• Massive Open Online
Courses (MOOCs)
• Open courseware
• Mobile learning
ICT-enabled
resources:
• Job-matching
• Mentoring
• Crowdfunding
New ways of
working:
• Coworking
spaces and
technology hubs
• Hackerspaces or
makerspaces
• Contests for
apps developers

8. Committed to Connecting the World
Action for Policy Makers
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Collaborative
innovation
spaces
Digital skills
in school
curriculum
Skills
development
for out-of-
school youth
Alternative
certification
models
App contests
and
competitions
Text-to-speech
engines in local
languages
Government
procurement
from young
entrepreneurs

9. Committed to Connecting the World
Role for ITU
 Raise awareness of these trends – including by
launching this report
 Develop resources to promote youth
employment and entrepreneurship
 Develop guidelines to support governments in
implementing youth employment and
entrepreneurship strategies
 This is one of the issues we will be discussing
at WTDC-14
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10. Committed to Connecting the World
International
Telecommunication
Union
Thank You!
susan.schorr@itu.int