The World Youth Skills Day, which is observed globally on 15 July every year,  was also celebrated for the first time in Nepal with group exhibition of products and new technologies developed by youths from various walks of life.

The event saw skilled youth entrepreneurs and returnee migrant workers involved in agriculture/agribusiness, handicrafts, garment industry, production of traditional foods, among others, recount their respective success stories and promote their brands and products to attract young people participating in the event towards skills training and motivate them to engage in entrepreneurship.

Speaking at the programme jointly organized by National Youth Council of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and UNDP's Support to Knowledge and Lifelong Learning Skills Programme to mark the UN designated day on Tuesday, Kul Bahadur Basnet, Vice Chairman of  Council for Technical Educationa and Vocational Trainigns (CTEVT) stresseon on embracing new technology to enhance youth skill development and entreprenuership. It has become necessary for both the public and private Technical and Vocational Educationa and Training Institutes in the country to provide skill training as per the demand of the job market so that their students won't have to face unemployment after finishing their courses,” he added.

Addressing the programme, UNDP Resident Representative Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe said, “The 1.2 billion youth aged 15-24 years in the world, which account for one out of every six people globally, should be provided with all the knowledge and opportunities for skill development to make them strong, competent and self-reliant." This will in turn help in reducing unemployment and poverty across the world, she added. 

The UNDP Resident Representative further said that marking the week of July 15 based on World Youth Skills Day's theme of "Learning to Learn for Life and Work" provides opportunity to raise awareness of not only youths but also leaders, policymakers, government officials, and the private sector towards the importance of lifelong learning and equip young people with soft skills needed to accessing decent work. 

Meanwhile, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science & Technology Baikuntha Prasad Aryal emphasized the need to provide relevant skills and competencies to youth so that they can get decent employment in the country itself and be motivated to engage in entrepreneurship. 

Similarly, Administrative Chief of National Youth Council Baburam Dhungana expressed his sadness over the fact that majority of Nepalese youths (Nepal government considers people aged 16-40 years as youths) who make 40 percent of country's population are unskilled and hence face rampant unemployment or low quality of jobs in the country.

Also speaking at the programme, transgender model turned business-woman Meghna Lama shared the challenges she faced while opening the first openly LGBTIQ-friendly restaurant in Kathmandu while Sristi KC, a visually impaired person, shared how she fought the odds and found courage to train important life skills to blind people like her in order to help them assimilate in the society.

More photos in flickr