World Youth Skills Day is celebrated on 15 July with the aim of reminding the importance of training young people for employment, dignified work and entrepreneurship.

This year’s theme of the World Youth Skills Day, which is: Skills for a shared future, emphasizes the need to develop digital, green and social competencies that enable young people to adapt to rapid changes in the labor market and to become carriers of innovation and sustainability.

Regardless of the progress, youth unemployment continues to represent a global challenge, and the fact that one in five young people is not in education, work or training, with twice the share of young women in that group, is particularly worrying. More than half of young workers are employed in the informal sector, often without safe working conditions. At the same time, investments in the green and blue sectors can open millions of new jobs for young people by 2030, provided that equal rights and dignified working conditions are ensured. Technical and vocational education plays a key role in preparing young people for the future, and UNESCO-UNEVOC is organizing global initiatives this year that give young people the opportunity to present their ideas and projects.

The Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports continuously implements programs and initiatives aimed at strengthening the skills of young people through support for sports clubs, cultural projects and educational events. Special emphasis is placed on creating opportunities for young people to develop communication, team and creative skills, as well as encouraging their active participation in social life. The Ministry recognizes that investing in young people means investing in the future and will continue to provide institutional support to projects that contribute to the development of skills, empowering young people and building a society based on knowledge, tolerance and togetherness.

The Ministry joins in marking the World Youth Skills Day, emphasizing that investing in education and training of young people means investing in a sustainable, just and innovative future of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the world.