2017 ICT4D Conference

Today, nearly 600 million youth are NOT in education, employment or training (NEET), diminishing their chances of a decent wage and career in the future. 62% of them are in South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific.

Youth’s ability to participate in the labour market is crucial for inclusive, sustainable economic growth, but many possess neither the skills nor education the current economy requires. Gender equalities in the region’s labour market further enhance exclusion. Asia is estimated to lose up to $77 billion per year as a result of gender gaps in education and women’s limited access to employment opportunities. But how do we know our projects are having real and measurable impact?

After launching the Youth Employment Solutions (YES!) Digital Ecosystem in 2016, Plan International truly disrupted the traditional approach to both Youth Employment programming and the integration of digital innovations into YE projects. The YES!Digital Ecosystem enhances the quality, scale and influence of new and existing YE programs as an end-to-end solution of innovative and integrated components; each standing alone, yet working together to create truly unique learning experiences and insights.

Plan International understands that unless measured, impact is only anecdotal. By reimagining not reinventing, Plan international collaborated and co-created YES!ME, the only YE data system of its kind, one that is unique yet familiar, innovative yet intuitive; our Yellow Umbrella.

Embracing principles of big data and behavioural economics, YES!ME will improve the collection of reliable, high quality, high value data for making decisions and measuring impact. Beyond collection, YES!ME has powerful potential for data to bloom into engaging information that can be created and accessed by just about anyone.

Join Bo Percival to discover how a small idea is fast becoming a sought-after solution across the Youth Employment sector. This session will give attendees an insight into the user-led design process, the inner workings of YES!ME and lessons learned along the way.