Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge– Celebration Event Held In Islamabad

As always, UNICEF IS working towards a better future for young people and furthering the agenda, UNICEF launched its initiative – Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge. Generation Unlimited is a new partnership established by UNICEF to help adolescents and young people succeed. The goal is to make sure that every young person aged 10 – 24 is in some form of school, learning, training or employment by 2030. Through Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge, 16 UNICEF country offices focused on identifying, co-creating and supporting solutions that have the potential to deliver results at scale for young people, especially those in the greatest danger of being left behind. In Pakistan, theme for the youth challenge was Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM).

Further, testimonies received by UNICEF have shown that girls, specifically in low income settings, can miss anywhere from two to four consecutive days of schools every four weeks due to their periods. This has serious effects on their learning. Improper management of menstruation directly affects girls’ self-esteem, health, and education.

Purpose

By adopting a human-centered approach, youth were encouraged to understand problems and invent solutions faced by local communities. In Pakistan, the theme for the youth challenge is Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM). Three key areas focused in this challenge include Secondary-age education; Skills for learning, employability, and decent work; and empowerment with a focus on girls.

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Purpose behind this Celebration event are:

1. To celebrate the victory of team The Red Code from Pakistan
2. To appreciate the efforts of all participants
3. To invite large number of stakeholders to explore more working areas for teams as well as stakeholders
4. To invite policy makers to bring suitable changes in the community/country to bring advancement
5. To give awareness to adolescents and to bring them out of the bubble that created around them about menstruation.

 

Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge– Overview

 GenU initiative started from August 2018 and following steps were taken place :

1. Preparation Phase: Seeking innovative ideas that enable females to manage their menstruation hygienically.
2. Outreach: Building awareness, trust, and excitement within the marginalized groups.
3. Ideas Submission & Shortlisting Process: 10/157 teams were shortlisted.
4. Human-Centered Design Boot camp :
   1. Pre-boot camp: One-day training on Problem Identification and Human-Centered Design.
   2. 2-Day Boot camp: Teams undertook research to develop prototype and pitch their ideas
5. First Grant: 5/10 teams were awarded $1000 each.
6. Mentoring Phase: Supported teams through incubation and project development for two months.
7. Country level Judging: ⅖ teams shortlisted to compete with 30 other teams globally.
8. Global winners: Pakistan’s “The Red Code” team marked its name on the global map of innovative success, and awarded with a seed funding of $20,000.