Creating a digital ecosystem through YuWaah

India has the world’s largest population of young people, with more than 300 million in the range of 10 to 24 years. Young people can drive a nation’s social, economic, and political development, and investing in them can yield disproportionate returns to society at large. However, they are often excluded from information channels and decision-making spaces relevant to their futures. This is because they are seen as beneficiaries, at the receiving end of  protection, resources, and services, when they should be treated as equal partners leading a positive change in society. Their right to participate and contribute to decisions that affect them is enshrined in Articles 12 and 13 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Young people need support in skilling, economic opportunities, youth participation and innovation. And that is where YuWaah steps in to provide that assistance.

YuWaah (Generation Unlimited India) is a UNICEF-initiated multi-stakeholder global platform to prepare young people to transition from education and learning to productive work and active citizenship. Its mission is to bring together government, civil society, the private sector, the skilling ecosystem and young people to curate and enable pathways towards social impact and economic opportunities.

YuWaah works towards identifying key gaps and barriers and finding innovative solutions towards advancing aspirational opportunities for young people as they transition from adolescence to adulthood. Solving issues that place youth at a digital disadvantage in terms of connectivity, accessibility, digital literacy and work-ready skills is the most critical aspect in the journey of youth enablement. To cater to this need, YuWaah envisages a youth-centric, digital ecosystem converging a multitude of platforms, tools, and resources for young people inside and outside of formal education systems to gain equitable, increased, and seamless access to skilling, economic and social impact opportunities.

This aggregator marketplace is based on four principles of the societal platform (open source, open APIs, open standards, open data) that bring together Samaaj, Sarkar and Bazaar. The platform will aggregate solutions related to learning, skilling, economic opportunities (jobs/entrepreneurship), youth
participation and youth innovations. A blue book for functional requirements has already been developed, and prototype development is in progress.

As a founding partner of YuWaah, Capgemini India has provided support in various ways — through funding, employee volunteering as mentors and pro bono support. The organisation is also an active member of YuWaah’s governance system. P2E and the pro bono support to build on market linkages will also build on Capgemini’s existing partners for social impact and enable cross-linkages on scale and the impact for young people in India and globally.

Capgemini’s support will build on current collaborations with other private partners such as Microsoft, PWC and Dubai Cares. YuWaah will also bring together stakeholders like MSDE, MOE and state governments aligned to the focus on skilling, job connections, entrepreneurship and innovative social solutions.