UN Youth Skills Day (was actually yesterday but never mind!)

Did you know young people are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and continuously exposed to lower quality of jobs, greater labour market inequalities, and longer and more insecure school-to-work transitions?

That is why skills and jobs for youth feature prominently in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and SDG target 4.4 calls for a substantial increase in the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills. To highlight this problem the UN has made 15 July Youth Skills Day.  One for the reasons for the low employment rates is a mismatch between skills available (and those we've trained our youngsters in) and what we actually need.  This is seen across all sectors; however there are some schemes that are aiming to level out this imbalance. One such project is the East Lothian Junior Rangers group where young volunteers develop work skills for future.  It is a group run by the East Lothian Countryside Ranger Service for local young people aged between 11-18 and who are interested learning about the natural world. They meet twice a month in term time, and go out exploring East Lothian wild places. Through this they gain not only knowledge of local wildlife and the Countryside Ranger profession, they make new friends with similar interests from across the county. The Junior Rangers in East Lothian were set up as part of a pilot project developed by the Scottish Countryside Ranger Service (SCRA). The development of the pilot project has now meant that there is a network of Junior Ranger groups run by different Ranger Services across Scotland. Find out more about this inspiring project.

You can also read about how the next generation of rangers, conservationists, naturalists and ecologists are being  inspired in their own way by the natural world in the wonderful New Nature magazine, published free online very month and in turn be inspired by their passion and commitment.  New Nature is the only natural history magazine written, edited and produced entirely by young people: by young ecologists, conservationists, communicators, nature writers and wildlife photographers each boasting an undying passion for the natural world. It is intended, foremost, as a celebration of nature, but also of the young people giving their time, freely, to protect it. Find out about New Nature, how to read and how to contribute here.