Empowering the Next Generation: Reflecting on International Youth Day

International Youth Day, a globally recognized observance on August 12th each year, is a United Nations (UN) initiative that aims to raise awareness about the challenges and opportunities encountered by young people across the globe. This year’s theme—Green Skills for Youth: Towards a Sustainable World—highlights the urgent need to transition towards an ethical, conservation-minded, and climate-resilient society as a pathway to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Equipping young people with future skills plays an essential part in the world’s transition towards a green economy. By empowering youth with knowledge of the latest tech advancements, political leaders can tap into their creativity and ingenuity to address pressing environmental challenges, accelerate the development of green technologies, and drive the transition towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly economy for a greener future. Further to this, through 21st-century learning, young individuals can develop the necessary skills to create and implement sustainable solutions, ranging from energy-efficient software and applications to smart devices that optimize resource consumption.

In Europe, Meet and Code are one of our partners in this regard. The initiative is organized by SAP in conjunction with social enterprise? Haus des Stiftens ?and non-profit organization? TechSoup ?and promotes projects in digital education, in partnership with 亚马逊 ???????????? ????????????????. Focusing on young people between the ages of eight and 24, the projects and events sponsored as part of Meet and Code are designed to give them valuable insights into coding and show them how the digital world works—in an entertaining way that allows plenty of freedom and creativity.

In addition to this, we also proudly run Africa's most extensive digital skills youth program— SAP Africa Code Week . Launched in 2015 by SAP, Africa Code Week is a collaboration between public and private sector organizations, non-profits, and educational institutions. The primary goal of Africa Code Week is to bridge the digital skills gap in Africa and prepare the continent's youth for the future world of work. The initiative provides free coding workshops and training sessions for children and young adults aged eight to sixteen years. These workshops have been incredibly well-received in schools, community centers, and various learning spaces across multiple African countries.

These are two of the ways that SAP aims to power equitable access to the digital economy by imbuing youth in need with the necessary skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values to develop their competencies for employment, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Together, we can work towards creating a more sustainable world.