Extract from Meeting Grand Challenges for the 21st century WEF, Dubai 2012

By Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Director-General, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Sweden

“We need you to pay attention, take action and provide ideas because we cannot be naïve, this is an issue which we cannot discuss as future issue, this is a present issue here today, let s not talk about the young people being the future tomorrow this is a problem that has to be dealt with now.”

We need to create jobs.

 

“We need the business sector to take not only responsibility but really see this as a responsibility and an investment, not Cooperate Social Responsibility on the side but apprenticeship and jobs by the business sectors is one part of the solution, again we really need to create jobs. For that reason we need to learn how to educate young people all over the world.”

“We need to build in transferable skills, soft skills, and entrepreneur skills in the curriculum. We need young people today that are already up and running to be the best entrepreneurs out there.”

We need immediate action as well.

“We need businesses to take action today, Vocational Training: we left that 15 years ago and I am ashamed we did that actually, we really need good trainers focusing on vocational training.”

“We need to inspire change”

“Concrete action where want to improve models of entrepreneurship, models of apprenticeship and spread them.”

“We need systemic change…we need country plans where governments, business, education, NGO’s and stakeholders come together and really decide on a strategy and implement that on the long term.”