UNICEF and the Foundation Telekom for Macedonia give children and young people the opportunity to join the global Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge 2019/20

The United Nations Children’s Fund, together with the Foundation Telekom for Macedonia, today announced an open call inviting young innovators to submit ideas for digital solutions to remove barriers that children and young people with disabilities face in their education and everyday life. Under the title “Youth Challenge – Digital Inclusion” – the national call for applications is part of the Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge 2019/20, which is taking place in over 40 countries worldwide and is open until 22 November 2019.

“The age of adolescence is the best time for creative thinking and innovation. This is also the best age for children to learn how to solve problems and care for others. We would like to harness the power of adolescence and are excited to see how young innovators will engage and tackle some of the biggest challenges of their generation. One of the challenges is applying digital knowledge for equitable society in which everyone participates in every aspect of community life without barriers,” said Patrizia Di Giovanni, UNICEF Representative.

The best ten teams (which should include at least one person with a disability) will be invited to a design thinking workshop to develop their ideas further in December 2019. Following these workshops, the five most promising ideas will be selected and awarded with funding and mentoring support. The teams will work under the mentorship of Internet experts, engineers, marketing and IT specialists from Makedonski Telekom.

“One of the biggest challenges of the digital society is decreasing the digital gap and creating equal opportunities for all, especially for the vulnerable groups, such as children and young people with disabilities. As digital transformation stakeholders, our task is to create conditions and undertake initiatives, but also to include young people in co-creation of equitable digital society,” - said Nikola Ljusev, President of Foundation Telekom for Macedonia.

In June 2020, the final two most promising solutions from the country will be submitted to a global selection process. These projects will have the chance to receive further funding of $20,000, along with a global incubation programme from the Generation Unlimited partners to support them to scale.

The UNICEF and Foundation Telekom for Macedonia “Youth Challenge – Digital Inclusion” is being implemented in cooperation with SmartUp and the Scout Association of Macedonia.

To find out more about Generation Unlimited”: https://www.genunlimited.mk/

For more information, please contact:
Foundation Telekom for Macedonia, Lea Lipsha, tel: +389 23242506, е-mail FoundationTelekomforMacedonia@telekom.mk

UNICEF, Suzie Pappas Capovska, UNICEF Skopje
(02) 3231-244 spappas@unicef.org or Irina Ivanovska, UNICEF Skopje (02) 3231-172 iivanovska@unicef.org

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