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Rethinking Education to Re-Engage Youth: Why It’s Time to Focus on Practical Skill Building
In 2023, 20% of youth globally were not involved in employment, education or training — and there is a concerning skills gap, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Meanwhile, the supply of educated youth is exceeding the supply of skilled jobs in many LMICs, forcing young workers to seek lower-paying jobs unrelated to their education and skills. Jessica Crist at SDG Academy explores these challenges, and explains why they're driving the need for a new approach to higher education, focused on practical skill-building and non-traditional formats like online courses, short-term programs and professional training.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
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£3.5 Million CEPREC Centre Launched to Tackle Africa’s Energy Challenges
The initiative is a collaboration among over 30 stakeholders from government, industry, and academia across the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology, WASH
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Announcing NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles of 2024: Vote for Your Favorites by Jan. 5
As we bid farewell to an eventful year, it's time for NextBillion’s annual tradition: our “Most Influential Articles of the Year” contest. Each December since 2012, we've selected 12 of our most-read articles from the past year, inviting readers to vote for the ones that influenced their thinking the most. Check out the articles in this year's contest (if you haven't already), and vote for your favorites: You can vote up to once per hour between Dec. 18 and 11:59 pm EST on Jan. 5.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Health Care, Impact Assessment, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Press Release: Goldman Sachs, IFC Partner With African Banks to Empower Women Entrepreneurs in Africa
Under the partnership, nine financial institutions from across Africa have agreed to join the 10,000 Women initiative.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: WDI Receives Grant to Connect Young People Through Virtual Exchange
Today, the Stevens Initiative announced the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan is one of nine schools, higher education institutions, and nonprofit organizations to receive funding to run virtual exchange programs that connect young people in the United States and the Middle East and North Africa. The programs will help reach 8,000 young people along with the new J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative Grantees, supported by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
- Categories
- Education, Environment
- Region
- Global
- Tags
- academia, business education, youth
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Press Release: Partnership Aims to Commercialize Next-Gen Energy and Mobility Solutions
WDI will support select universities and research centers in Chihuahua, Mexico to help prototypes related to energy and mobility reach the market.
- Categories
- Energy, Transportation
- Region
- Global
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The Problem with ‘Forced Entrepreneurship’: How Universities — and Venture Capitalists — are Failing Climate Tech Innovators
Universities are increasingly positioning themselves as hubs of business innovation, and as Emre Eren Korkmaz at the University of Oxford explains, their support has become an important driver of climate tech innovation. But he argues that universities’ "one size fits all" approach to supporting these innovators is fundamentally flawed, prioritizing the pathway to entrepreneurship — and the demands of venture capitalists — rather than empowering true innovation. He explores the problem and highlights some alternative approaches.
- Categories
- Education, Environment, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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The Global Impact of South-South Cooperation: The Case for Teaching Developing Countries’ Solutions to Business Students Worldwide
South-South Cooperation empowers developing countries to create home-grown solutions to development problems, and to share them with other countries in the Global South. According to Mette Morsing at Principles for Responsible Management Education, the business sector has a key role to play in scaling these solutions in both the Global South and North. But for that to happen, she argues that business schools must focus on increasing knowledge exchange between emerging market innovators and their peers in the developed and developing worlds.
- Categories
- Education, Technology