Press Release

New challenge calling on young innovators to design solutions to improve employability skills and empowerment launched in Viet Nam

17 October 2018

  • Ho Chi Minh City (Viet Nam), 17th October 2018 – UNICEF and partners are launching today a new challenge calling on young innovators in Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding provinces to design solutions that will improve skills and training for young people, and empower them to take actions on issues that affect them. The Youth Challenge is part of the global initiative called Generation Unlimited.

Generation Unlimited, which is a new, ambitious partnership – launched at a high-level event during the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly – aims at getting every young person into quality education, training or employment by 2030. 

The first global action of the Generation Unlimited is the Youth Challenge taking place this year in 16 countries worldwide, including Vietnam. The challenge focuses on developing solutions for (i) secondary-age education; (ii) skills for learning, employability and decent work; and (iii) empowerment, with a focus on girls. 

In Viet Nam, the Youth Challenge calls for applications from young people to identify problems in their life and create impactful solutions for employability and empowerment with specific focus on girls. The Challenge will be implemented by UNICEF in partnership with the Saigon Innovation Hub (SIHUB) under HCMC’s Department of Science and Technology. 

“Young people know best the challenges they face and can therefore best create and innovate solutions that works for them and their peers”,said Marianne Oehlers, Chief of Programme Partnerships, UNICEF Office in Ho Chi Minh City. “We hope this challenge will inspire credible ideas from young people in Vietnam to explore challenges to decent employment and break down barriers faced by their peers in the school-to-work transition.”

Based on the success of the UPSHIFT project from 2015-2018, UNICEF Viet Nam will support a design workshop for the Youth Challenge’s successful applicants in Ho Chi Minh City in December 2018. Following the workshops, the six most promising ideas will be selected and awarded with seed funding and mentoring to support the projects’ implementation. 

In the Spring 2019, shortlisted projects from each country will be submitted to a global judging process to get a chance of further investment and mentorship programme from Generation Unlimited partners to support them to scale up. 

UNICEF Viet Nam welcomes youths and those interested in this Youth Challenge to UNICEF’s booth at Saigon Innovation Week (Oct 18-19th, 2018) at Riverside Palace, 360D Ben Van Don, Dist 4, and access http://bit.ly/GenUnlimitedVN for more information on how to apply. 

pdfClick here to download the details Rules and Regulations

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong

UNICEF
Communications Specialist

UN entities involved in this initiative

UNICEF
United Nations Children’s Fund

Goals we are supporting through this initiative