15 February 2024, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sri Lanka, together with Citra Social Innovation Lab, a joint initiative between the Prime Minister’s Office and UNDP, is supporting the National Youth Corps (NYC) to be a more user-centred and future fit institution serving the young people of Sri Lanka. 

UNDP, in partnership with other UN agencies, is developing a new life skills curriculum for NYC, including modules such as Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Diversity and Inclusion, Gender and Sexuality, Politics and Economics and the Future of Work. This new offer is currently being rolled out and aims to benefit over 10,000 underserved young people annually, through 58 NYC training centres. The modules will be delivered by over 170 life skills instructors, whose facilitative trainer capacity is also being enhanced by Citra.

This intervention is carried out under the UNDP Youth Empowerment in the Asia and the Pacific Region (YEP-AP) Programme, endorsed by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs. 

The curriculum was ceremoniously handed over to Hon. Harin Fernando, Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs by Ms Azusa Kubota, Resident Representative, UNDP in Sri Lanka, at ‘Paurshabhimana 2023’, the annual awards ceremony of NYC, which was held recently.

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