Why is Youth Skills Day celebrated?

Youth skills essentially refer to “skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship”. According to UNICEF, youth make up 16% of the total world population; therefore, the importance of investing in passionate and innovative young people needs no emphasis. Young people have been successful in showing the world the power of youth-led businesses, social change, and a sustainable future. In recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted individuals and businesses in ways the world was least prepared for. The pandemic struck the already suffering job markets, resulting in greater unemployment for this particular group. The primary takeaway from this is that we need to equip youth with key soft and technical skills so that they are able to adapt and contribute to rapidly changing global circumstances. Recognizing this, the UN declared 15^th July as the World Youth Skills Day to celebrate the importance of empowering youth.

What is AAN doing to empower its young employees?

AAN recognizes the potential young people possess and continuously strives to provide youth with the platform to showcase that. Almost 50% of the workforce here at AAN comprises of young talented individuals who bring fresh, innovative, and out-of-the-box perspectives to the workplace. To further work on the skills of these new hires, AAN organizes monthly capacity-building training sessions where professionals from different walks of life come and work on developing the skills of these young people. Moreover, AAN has recently introduced an initiative called the “Productivity Pots” as an effort towards increasing employee productivity. Under this, the employees will be allocated a certain budget to invest in areas they think would increase their productivity. For example, if a person thinks going to the gym would increase their productivity in the workplace, they could use the budget from their productivity pot to buy a gym membership.

Sahar’s experience at AAN

“In spirit of the upcoming World Youth Skills Day, I would like to share an account of my journey with AAN Associates. Having joined AAN recently as a Project Development Intern, my journey so far has been nothing short of an eye-opening experience. It is my first time working in an organization that is not only accepting of fresh talent but also offering them the creative freedom to explore, learn, and improve their professional skills. During my time here, I have been assigned specific tasks by my line manager along with the responsibility of collaborating with my other team members on vital department functions. These tasks come with deadlines that enable me to work smart and polish my multitasking skills. From the very get go, I was involved in the tasks that are integral to my department’s success and I was also given the opportunity to work alongside my co-workers in other departments in order to further broaden my understanding of our organizations various functions. As part of AAN’s capacity-building initiative, I also attended a training session on Behavior Change Communication that I found to be extremely interesting and insightful. All in all, I greatly appreciate AAN’s efforts towards youth skill building and I think other organizations should take inspiration from its practices and strive towards the capacity building of younger personnel.”

By Sahar Imran

Intern – Project Development Unit

Why is Youth Skills Day celebrated?

Youth skills essentially refer to “skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship”. According to UNICEF, youth make up 16% of the total world population; therefore, the importance of investing in passionate and innovative young people needs no emphasis. Young people have been successful in showing the world the power of youth-led businesses, social change, and sustainable future. In recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted individuals and businesses in ways the world was least prepared for. The pandemic struck the already suffering job markets, resulting in greater unemployment for this particular group. The primary takeaway from this is that we need to equip youth with key soft and technical skills so that they are able to adapt and contribute to rapidly changing global circumstances. Recognizing this, the UN declared 15^th July as the World Youth Skills Day to celebrate the importance of empowering youth.

What is AAN doing to empower its young employees?

AAN recognizes the potential young people possess and continuously strives to provide youth with the platform to showcase that. Almost 50% of the workforce here at AAN comprises of young talented individuals who bring fresh, innovative, and out-of-the-box perspectives to the workplace. To further work on the skills of these new hires, AAN organizes monthly capacity-building training sessions where professionals from different walks of life come and work on developing the skills of these young people. Moreover, AAN has recently introduced an initiative called the “Productivity Pots” as an effort towards increasing employee productivity. Under this, the employees will be allocated a certain budget to invest in areas they think would increase their productivity. For example, if a person thinks going to the gym would increase their productivity in the workplace, they could use the budget from their productivity pot to buy a gym membership.

Sahar’s experience at AAN

“In spirit of the upcoming World Youth Skills Day, I would like to share an account of my journey with AAN Associates. Having joined AAN recently as a Project Development Intern, my journey so far has been nothing short of an eye-opening experience. It is my first time working in an organization that is not only accepting of fresh talent but also offering them the creative freedom to explore, learn, and improve their professional skills. During my time here, I have been assigned specific tasks by my line manager along with the responsibility of collaborating with my other team members on vital department functions. These tasks come with deadlines that enable me to work smart and polish my multitasking skills. From the very get go, I was involved in the tasks that are integral to my department’s success and I was also given the opportunity to work alongside my co-workers in other departments in order to further broaden my understanding of our organizations various functions. As part of AAN’s capacity-building initiative, I also attended a training session on Behavior Change Communication that I found to be extremely interesting and insightful. All in all, I greatly appreciate AAN’s efforts towards youth skill building and I think other organizations should take inspiration from its practices and strive towards the capacity building of younger personnel.”

By Sahar Imran

Intern – Project Development Unit