Harnessing sport to build skills among youth
[We are calling for articles on youth leadership and engagement in sport and development in the lead-up to International Youth Day on 12 August - we welcome your contributions!]
July 15 is celebrated annually as World Youth Skills Day, with this year’s theme focusing on reimagining the skills that youth will require to succeed in a post-pandemic world. Sport has been utilised across the globe as a tool to enable the learning of various skills required by young people to be successful. Sport-based approaches have also been used as a medium to connect youth to future employment opportunities. The value and opportunities presented by sport must be considered as an important element in building skills among youth in a post-COVID world.
The impact of the pandemic on youth
COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the education and development of children and youth, with UNICEF estimating that schools have been entirely shut for 168 million children globally since the start of the pandemic, and 463 million children have been unable to access remote learning during this period.
The pandemic has had a significant impact on the global economy, leaving large parts of the population unemployed, with youth employment falling by more than double as compared to adults. This will make it harder for youth to access future employment as well, due to their comparatively lower experience levels than adult workers.
In order to confront these and future challenges, youth need to be able to access appropriate and contextually relevant learning and capacity building opportunities, which have also been minimised due to the pandemic. The skills learnt by young people need to be reviewed, especially cross cutting skills that can build their capacities to be able to tackle further uncertainties in the future.
Sport for skill building
Sport has been identified as an enabler of a wide variety of soft skills and life skills, which can aid in young people’s personal development and equip them with employable skills. These crucial skills have become more important than ever, given the context of the pandemic. In particular, sport can be used as an effective medium to teach skills of resilience, working collaboratively, communicating effectively as well as learning to deal with adversity and failure adequately, which will be decisive in dealing with the after-effects of the pandemic along with future unforeseen challenges. Sport also has the ability to build the capacities of individuals to think creatively and critically and foster an entrepreneurial spirit, key skills in a post-pandemic world to thrive and be relevant within workplaces and to gain employment opportunities.
Sport-based approaches have proved vital to connect young people to various learning and training opportunities that can assist in securing future livelihoods. Sport has also been regarded as a vital tool in keeping children and young people in school, especially girls, as well as enhancing their opportunities of accessing higher education. Moreover, sport has been recognised as an opportunity for youth to build their social and professional networks, along with learning about and accessing various vocational, educational and employment opportunities that they can pursue.
As economies start to re-open, the role of sport in enhancing the skills and opportunities of youth in accessing and securing meaningful employment must be recognised and acted upon by key stakeholders, especially within educational and training institutions and programs. On this World Youth Skills Day 2021, it is imperative that sport is seen by the private, public and third sectors as an enabler to reimagine and revitalise the skills required by youth to succeed in a post-pandemic world.
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