UPCOMING WEBINAR: VOLUNTEERING, SKILLS DEVELOPMENT & EMPLOYABILITY: REVERSING THE NARRATIVE?

As a follow up to the discussions during the UNESCO Chair on Lifelong Learning, Youth and Work, Gulu University Conference in April, the Refugee Youth Volunteering Uganda (RYVU) team is now hosting a webinar on the theme: Volunteering, skills development and employability: reversing the narrative?

Volunteering is often promoted as providing opportunities for learning and skills development and creating pathways to employability. As a result, governments, universities, NGOs and other actors often promote volunteering opportunities to young people with a promise of the transformations it can offer both them and the communities they volunteer with and in. But to date, there is little research and debates exploring the relationships between volunteering, mutual learning, skills and employability in the context of displaced youth in Sub Saharan Africa, and in Uganda in particular. It remains to be understood whether on the converse, skill acquisition enhances volunteering potentials and opportunities and employability or if volunteering is seen by young people as employment in itself.

These themes will be discussed from the perspectives of two experienced panelists: Ms Anna Nabulya, Deputy Executive Director of Uganda Youth Development Link (UYDEL), and RYVU Team Member Dr Moses Okech. Their short presentations will be followed by two responses from Mr David Andrew Ochiengh, Programme Coordinator Livelihoods at VSO Uganda, and Ms Scovia Adrupio, Coordinator for the UNESCO Chair on Lifelong Learning, Youth and Work. The purpose will be to instigate an interactive discussion with all participants, moderated by RYVU Principal Investigator Prof Matt Baillie Smith.

The webinar will take place next Thursday, July 29th 2021 beginning at 4:00pm (EAT) | 2:00pm (BST). More information and the link for free registration can be found here.