![]() Girl-specific skills: Focusing on competencies that position girls to participate equally and transition to employment Girl-centered engagement: Putting girls at the center of design, implementation, monitoring and learning. Skills4Girls takes a girl-centered approach to skills building: ![]() Skills4Girls develops girls’ skills in areas such as STEM, digital technologies, and social entrepreneurship in addition to life skills such as problem-solving, negotiation, self-esteem, and communication. ![]() As one of the five targeted priorities for Girls’ Empowerment in the Gender Action Plan, investments in girls’ education and skills are a critical pathway to dignified work. The Portfolio addresses the UNICEF Gender Action Plan-2022-2025 key commitment to prioritize the leadership and well-being of adolescent girls and it is hinged on Goal Area 2 of UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025, which focuses on access to quality learning opportunities, skills, participation and engagement for all children and adolescents. UNICEF, through the Skills4Girls Portfolio, is currently working with and for girls in 22 countries to bridge the gap between the skills girls need to be competitive in the 21st century workforce, versus those they have traditionally had access to. Over 11 million girls may not return to school after the COVID-19 pandemic, with severe consequences for their futures. The COVID-19 pandemic made things even more difficult for millions of girls, particularly those in marginalised communities. Globally, about 1 billion girls and women lack the skills they need to succeed in rapidly changing job markets while 1 in 4 girls aged 15–19 years is neither employed nor in education or training compared to 1 in 10 boys of the same age. ![]() In many contexts, adolescent girls have no say in decisions that affect them, resulting in programmes and services that do not respond to their specific needs, hindering them from reaching their full potential. Women represent only 35% of global Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics (STEM) graduates at the tertiary level. Over 90 percent of jobs worldwide have a digital component, but options remain limited or non-existent for girls, especially adolescent girls, to excel in these male-dominated fields. The future workforce is projected to focus on science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and social entrepreneurship. In other words - when girls succeed, we all succeed. Investing in their success creates a ripple effect that benefits individual girls, along with their families, their communities and entire societies. However, their enormous potential remains constrained by multiple interlocking barriers, from negative stereotypes and harmful social norms, to discrimination in accessing technology or apprenticeships. They have also shown tremendous courage, strength, and resilience during unprecedented challenges, from the global COVID-19 pandemic, to spiraling climate crises, to fragility and conflict. There are more than 600 million adolescent girls in the world today - equipped with the right resources and opportunities, they will be the largest cohort of female leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs and change-makers the world has ever seen.
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