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L-R:Business Development Director,Mr Stanley
Muoneke,Country Manager,Olubunmi
Ekundare, Channel Development manager,Robinson Babatunde,all of Intel
Corporation Nigeria at the launch of 'Create Your Tomorrow' campaign in Lagos.
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NIGERIAN youths are among the 300 million youths from 100 countries across the world
that will benefit from the Microsoft YouthSpark, a new company wide initiative
to create opportunities for youth through a range of global programs, delivered
in partnership with governments, nonprofits and other businesses.
The
company’s youth-focused philanthropy will be conducted in collaboration with
non-profits group around the world such as GlobalGiving Foundation,
TakingITGlobal, Telecentre.org Foundation and the International Youth
Foundation, as well as regional nonprofits such as Silatech in the Middle East,
The Trust for Americas in Latin America, AIESEC International in Europe, and the
ASEAN Foundation in Asia.
Youths
in Nigeria would benefit from the program through the Youth Empowerment Program
(YEP), an initiative of Microsoft and the International Youth Foundation (IYF)
that from 2007 to 2010 provided young people in Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and
Tanzania with training in life skills, employability and entrepreneurship as
well as hands-on experience through internships.
Microsoft
Chief Executive Officer, Steve Ballmer while launching the project said the companywide
initiative includes citizenship and other company programs both new and
enhanced that will empower youth to imagine and realise their full potential by
connecting them with greater opportunities for education, employment and
entrepreneurship.
He
said through the Microsoft YouthSpark, the company will dedicate the majority
of its cash contributions to nonprofits that serve the youth population around
the world.
He
added that the three-year Microsoft YouthSpark program would include Office 365
for education, free technology tools for all teachers and students to power
learning and collaboration, and Skype in the classroom, a free global community
for teachers to connect their students with others around the world.
He
stated that as part of the initiative, Microsoft is also launching a range of
new citizenship programs, which include giving for youth, a global micro-giving
marketplace focused on raising funds for nonprofits that support youth causes
around the world.
It
also include the Microsoft YouthSpark Hub, an online space where people can
explore and access all the youth services, programs and resources provided by
Microsoft and its non-profit partners and the Microsoft Innovate for Good, a
global online community enabling youth to collaborate, inspire and support each
other while using technology to make a difference in their communities.
“Through
Microsoft YouthSpark we are making a commitment to help 300 million young
people around the world achieve their dreams by focusing our citizenship
efforts and other company resources on connecting young people with
opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship.
“We
believe that working with our partners we can help empower young people to
change their world, and we are committed to using our technology, talent, time
and resources to do that,“ he said.
Executive
vice president, Microsoft Brad Smith, said, “The global unemployment rate for
workers under age 25 is 12.7 percent, which is double the rate for the world as
a whole. This is indicative of a growing opportunity divide between young
people who have the access, skills and opportunities to be successful and those
who do not. We must work together to close the opportunity divide for youth and
help secure the future of this generation and the future of our global economy.”
According
to him, the International Youth Foundation Opportunity for Action report,
published in March 2012, showed that nearly 75 million young people worldwide
were unemployed in 2011 noting that as the global youth population continues to
grow there are more than 2.2 billion people between the ages of 6 and 24 today
the opportunity divide is widening.
He
stated that the Microsoft YouthSpark goes beyond philanthropy stressing that it
brings together a range of global programs that empower young people with
access to technology and a better education and inspire young people to imagine
the opportunities they have to realise their potential, including previously
mentioned Office 365 for education and Skype in the classroom.
Other
programs are Partners in Learning, Microsoft IT Academy, DreamSpark, Imagine
Cup, Students to Business and BizSpark.
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