YuWaah, UNICEF, Capgemini and UNGCNI collaborate to provide opportunities for young people

The collaboration will enable YuWaah to empower India's youth by creating career pathways and encouraging them as active changemakers

by Priya J

NEW DELHI, 03 March 2021 – YuWaah, UNICEF, Capgemini and United Nations Global Compact Network India (UNGCNI) today entered into a collaboration to work together on providing India’s young people with skillsets that will help empower them for creating their career pathways and enabling them as active changemakers. This initiative will offer a range of opportunities like local demand-based skilling with job matching through quality internships and apprenticeships and promote entrepreneurship.

YuWaah (Generation Unlimited/GenU) is a UNICEF-initiated multi-stakeholder global platform, that aims to prepare young people to transition from education and learning to productive work and active citizenship.

The collaboration was announced during a dialogue on ‘Imagining a Sustainable Future for India’s Young People’ by Mr. Ashwin Yardi (CEO of Capgemini in India) and Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque (UNICEF Representative in India). Two young people from YuWaah Young People Action Team set the stage with their aspirations, solutions and challenges during the panel discussion

Capgemini, UNGCNI and UNICEF will bring their core assets and competencies to further advance the investments and effectiveness of YuWaah’s initiatives for young people. The collaboration aims to co-create solutions at scale with and for young people.

Announcing the collaboration,  Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF Representative in India, said, “As a multi-stakeholder partnership, YuWaah aims to bring together different stakeholders, and private organisations such as Capgemini play a major role in furthering the ambitious objectives we have set out for young people through implementing YuWaah.  The collaboration marks a key milestone and will act as a catalyst in enabling YuWaah  to reach an increasing number of  young people. ”

Mr. Ashwin Yardi, CEO of Capgemini in India said, “As a global leader in digital, Capgemini’s ambition is to help make the digital revolution an opportunity for all and to provide a bridge between technology and society. We are delighted to join hands with UNICEF and YuWaah to create digital opportunities for today’s youth and leverage our expertise to bring a positive impact in our society.”

Ms. Shabnam Siddiqui, Executive Director, GCNI - "In this decade of action, we need to create and commit ourselves to active partnerships which aim at achieving the SDGs in India. YuWaah is empowering our future generation - the youth with education, skills and economic opportunities. Through our partnership with Capgemini and UNICEF, GCNI is certain that this vision will be achieved"

Dhuwarakha Sriram, Chief of Adolescent Development and Generation Unlimited said, “One of the major focuses for YuWaah in its work with young people has been a focus on young people from underserved communities. With Capgemini’s support, in our effort to create opportunities for young people at scale, we aim to ensure that no young person is left behind.”

About YuWaah:YuWaah is a multi-stakeholder platform that aims to prepare young people to transition from education and learning to productive work and active citizenship. It was formed by UNICEF, together with public and private sector partners, UN Agencies, civil society organisations, foundations and young people as the Generation Unlimited (GenU) partnership in India. By 2030, in India YuWaah aims to:

1. Build pathways to aspirational socio-economic opportunities for 100 million young people
2. Facilitate 200 million young people to gain relevant skills for productive lives and the future of work
3. Partner with 300 million young people as change makers and create spaces for developing their leadership.

Launched in 2019 by Smt. Smriti Irani, Honourable Minister for Women and Children’s Development, YuWaah also received strong words of encouragement from the Honourable Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi in the form of a letter of support. 

About Capgemini:Capgemini is a global leader in partnering with companies to transform and manage their business by harnessing the power of technology. The Group is guided everyday by its purpose of unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future. It is a responsible and diverse organization of 270,000 team members in nearly 50 countries. With its strong 50 year heritage and deep industry expertise, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to address the entire breadth of their business needs, from strategy and design to operations, fueled by the fast evolving and innovative world of cloud, data, AI, connectivity, software, digital engineering and platforms. The Group reported in 2020 global revenues of €16 billion.

Get the Future You Want | www.capgemini.com

Capgemini in India comprises over 125,000 team members working across 12 locations: Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida, Pune, Salem and Tiruchirappalli. Learn more about Capgemini in India at www.capgemini.com/in-en.

About UN Global Compact Network India:Global Compact Network India (GCNI), the Indian Local Network of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), New York is the first Local Network globally to be established with full legal recognition. As the UNGC local arm, GCNI has been acting as a country level platform in providing a robust platform for Indian businesses, academic institutions and civil society organizations to join hands for strengthening responsible business practices. Our ‘10 Principles in areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment & Anti-Corruption’ provide a common ethical and practical Framework for Corporate Responsibility. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all 195 Member States of the United Nations, including India, are understood and implemented by businesses around the world, regardless of size, complexity or location.  

About UNICEF:UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. More than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org.

UNICEF India relies on the support and donations from businesses and individuals to sustain and expand health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education and child protection programmes for all girls and boys in India. Support us today to help every child survive and thrive! www.unicef.in/donate