SkillUp at Digital Inclusion Week

By Lubna Salam

UNESCO and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) organize the Digital Inclusion Week annually on the 25th of October, with a focus on providing opportunities, training and knowledge for those who do not have access to it, in addition to exchanging experiences.

The Station implementedm in cooperation with Zain Iraq, the “SkillUp” program, a series of online sessions during the Digital Inclusion Week in order to make this week’s activities beneficial in Iraq and with The Station’s value of sharing our skills and experiences with the Iraqi youth community to face the problems of unemployment and lack of skills. These sessions continued from the October 25th until October 31st 2020. The "SkillUp'' program included training lectures providing basic information to more than 621 participants, most of them women and from all governorates of Iraq, who have an interest in learning more about a specific field, and it was presented by 16 trainers from Zain Iraq and The Station’s team. SkillUp inclusion week lasted for 52 full training hours.

Among the topics included in the "SkillUp" curriculum were: Project Management, Business Model, Microsoft Office, Content Planning, Personal Skills, Market Research, Digital Marketing, Public Relations, Introduction to IELTS, Tourism, Time Management, Sales Strategies, Labor Market, Budgeting and Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship.

Private and public sector organisations should be responsible to implement and develop this type of specialized program. They can contribute in some way to solving the local and even global youth unemployment problem by developing their skills and preparing them to enter the Iraqi labor market. Although many young people have already obtained university education and even graduate degrees, they struggle to search for jobs in the fields of their choice, and many of them lack the skills necessary to obtain these jobs.

HIGHLIGHTS

26 SESSIONS 16 TRAINERS

43% MALE 57% FEMALE

621 PARTICIPANTS 3202 APPLICATIONS IN 48 HOURS 12 PEOPLE WORKING BEHIND THE SCENE