Africa, the continent of the youth:
When we talk about youth in Africa, we talk about something IMPORTANT: Youth in Africa constituted 19% of the global youth population in 2015, numbering 226 million. The United Nations defines youth as people aged 15 to 24 years. By 2030, it is predicted that the number of youths in Africa will have increased by 42%. Africa’s population as a whole is very young, with 60% of the entire continent aged below 25, making it the youngest continent in the world, in relation to its population makeup. All of the world’s top 10 youngest countries by median age are in Africa.
The African continent’s youthful population presents a powerful opportunity for accelerated economic growth and innovation while other world regions (like Basque Country and Spain where we are used to work in DOT) face an aging population with subsequent issues such as high health costs for elderly care and high demand for skilled and qualified labour.
DOT experience in Changemaker education and XXI century skill training:
Over the past 6 years DOT we have gathered a great experience in Changemaker education: Together with Mondragon University we co-developed the MINN program International Executive Master program on Intrapreneurship and Open Innovation in Europe, China, South Korea and India and had a key role at the design and implementation of LEINN (Entrepreneurial Leadership and Innovation), the only official bachelor degree in Europe on Entrepreneurship. We have developed different training programs and bootcamps with universities such as Deusto, Basque Culinary Center, Salamanca, Almería, La Laguna.
In addition to all this during the last year we have had an AMAZING experience working together with ILO (International Labor Organization) in Mauritania and with UNICEF in Somalia running education programs to foster social entrepreneurship.
For Somalia region we are leading a young social innovation movement call UPSHIFT together with UNICEF and 4 local partners. UPSHIFT combines leading approaches to youth and adolescent development with private sector best practice (human-centred design), to empower youth identify and design entrepreneurial solutions to challenges in their communities.
DOT approach to changemaker skills in Africa:
The focus of our work in Africa is to equip the youth (and the local partners we for with in the ground) with tools and mindsets necessary to ignite youth Empowerment, civic engagement, innovation and tackle complex social and environmental challenges.
We look for the development of Changemaker Skills: empathy, human-centered design, design thinking, team-work, team-leadership, circular economy, social business… Our training experience are based in the development of the following four skill set-pillars:
Skill set 1. FEEL
- Individual Leadership emergence & empathy skills
- Learning by Doing capacity
- Vision development & changemaker mindset development
Skill set 2. ENVISION
- Vision development & changemaker mindset
- Global thinking training
- Innovation focused on people & User centered design
Skill set 3. MAKE
- Service Design & Prototyping skills
- Innovative business model design
- Social innovation and changemaker companies management
Skill set 4. REVELATION
- Generation of social business scenarios for the future.
- Channels of communication, storytelling and brand activism
- Cultivating social impact communities and social cohesion environments
DOT we are very much excited about joining forces with organizations like UNICEF under the shared vision of championing the rights of children & young people around the world and training them on social entrepreneurship and innovation skills.
We are also proud to announce that in order to successfully deliverer the support for this project and strategically focus DOT’s development in Africa we have created a DOT team in Nairobi.
Further information:
– “Population Facts: Youth population trends and sustainable development” (PDF). UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. May 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 August 2017.
– “Youth – Definition – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization”. www.unesco.org. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017.
– Adegoke, Yinka. “The youngest continent will keep being run by its oldest leaders”. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018.
– “Youth – Definition – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization”. www.unesco.org. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017.
– Adegoke, Yinka. “The youngest continent will keep being run by its oldest leaders”. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018.
