EDC to Present at 2015 Youth Workforce Development Summit

WALTHAM, MA | EDC will present several sessions on youth development and work readiness at the 2015 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit. Hosted by Making Cents International, and co-sponsored by EDC, this year’s summit will focus on increasing the impact, scale, and sustainability of youth workforce development programs around the world. It will be held October 6–8 in Washington, D.C.

The summit attracts more than 450 attendees from 70 countries, including policymakers, youth leaders, educators, and researchers. This year’s program will focus on topics such as workforce and enterprise development, monitoring and evaluation, and technology.

EDC staff will present the following sessions on Wednesday, October 7:

10:10–11:10 a.m.: Results from the Big Five Inventory—44 Soft Skills Measure with Youth in Two Emerging Market Countries
This session will focus on sharing the methodology and preliminary data from a research project to adapt and deepen the self-assessment tool known as the “Big Five Inventory 44.” Speakers will discuss results of the research in addition to soft skills and youth work readiness in developing countries.
EDC presenter: Nancy Taggart, Director of International Youth Programs

11:35 a.m.–12:35 p.m.: Getting to Big: Take Your Program Online for Scale and Impact
Participants will discuss tips for moving youth programs online and making them relevant, engaging, and sustainable. The panel will use HP LIFE e-Learning, an online training program developed by EDC, as a case study to discuss design strategies, tradeoffs, and lessons learned in getting to massive online impact.
EDC presenter: Rebecca Stoeckle, Vice President and Director of Technology and Health

4–5:30 p.m.: How Technology and Mobile Learning Applications Are Creating Cost-Effective Employment Solutions for Work-Seeking Youth in Africa and Latin America
This panel will focus on experiential learning programs, mobile technologies, and partnerships and how they can be structured to scale youth workforce development programs. Participants will learn about challenges, optimal conditions for effective implementation, and fundamental assumptions around device access, connectivity, and education.
EDC presenter: Gustavo Payan, Project Director

EDC has extensive experience with youth employment and workforce development programs, including developing the popular Work Ready Now! curriculum for delivering effective work readiness training to youth.

EDC designs, implements, and evaluates programs to improve education, health, and economic opportunity worldwide. Visit www.edc.org.