The event was co-organised by the Permanent Missions of Portugal and Sri Lanka, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Youth and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Highlighting the role of youth skills development within the 2030 Agenda framework, Ms. Chakanya focussed on two SDGs: SDG4 on quality education and SDG8 on decent work. Skills and jobs for youth feature prominently in both SDGs. Target 4.4 calls specifically for a substantial increase in the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship. Youth skills development was seen as a central component of achieving both Target 8.3, calling for measures to promote decent work creation and formalisation and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises; and Target 8.6, aiming to reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training.

Ms. Chakanya then focussed on skills development in the context of high informalisation and growth of the informal economy. For skills development programmes to be effective, they must be adapted to the various contexts. This means adapting skills to the realities of dominant informal sectors and providing technical training, business training and access to funding for informal economy contexts too.

With a view to facilitating a just transition to environmentally sustainable economies, Ms. Chakanya flagged the need to integrate green energy skills development into national and sectoral policies.

Additional information:

• Trade unions’ participation in HLPF 2017 is available here.